Mischief Matched
by fanningthings1
Summary: Loki is forced to take on an apprentice, who is not all she seems... Secrets, intrigue and reluctant passion ensue. A romance between Loki and an OC
1. Chapter 1

I do not own nor did I create Loki or any of the characters or places from Marvel.

Chapter 1. The Benefit of Others

Unlike his brother, Loki was not a millionaire of love.

He had always felt some inexplicable difference between himself and others. People did not fawn over him the way they fawned over Thor. To win friends he had always had to adapt and manipulate.

Loki had compiled, in his mind, a stunningly extensive catalogue of human weakness. Everyone, he observed, had their own crippling little vanities, their own frustrations and raw nerves. One just had to learn toobserve them_. _

And that he did.

Loki moved like the air throughout the court of Asgaard: imperceptible and present everywhere. He heard every discussion, every _whisper_; caught every nuance and grimace. Nature may not have outfitted him with Thors granite pectorals, but it _had_ given him something far more powerful… From a young age, Loki had been gifted with what some might term 'the devils insight'. He could sense the desires of others and use them to make anyone do his bidding. And he did it _lightly_. Loki never ordered anyone to do anything outright. Rather he let ideas waft into heads like floating pollen.

Loki had merely to _suggest… _

_How tragically mistaken men of Earth are_, Loki thought, _to view this realm as heaven, when beasts such as I inhabit it… _

Lately one thought had consumed him above all: _what to do about Thor? _

Thor was the golden son; the future King; the man about whom songs were written and needlepoint sex-art was sewn. But Thor, Loki knew, was a fool, and a braggart.

"There are no Sapphic maidens," Thor crowed one night at banquet, "only those who have not yet been acquainted with _me!._" Beside him, his friends Volstagg and Fandril cackled boozily. The beautiful warrior maiden Sif rolled her eyes at this foolery but Loki knew she loved him well. Unworthy as he was, Thor was possessed of such charisma, and such _blind _confidence that sometimes Loki wondered if he had not been put on this realm for the sole purpose of making those around him look worse.

_Arrogant bastard. _

"You are right brother," said Loki in his beautiful voice, "I rather think meeting you would be enough to cast such repulsion into the hearts of said maidens that they might be permanently turned off from _any _and _all _forms of coitus, whatever their inclinations_._"

The room cackled.

Of course, Loki knew that Thor was effortlessly popular with most women. He certainly went through them! How many Senators daughters had Loki seen sobbing into their flutes at banquets, forlorn to see that their golden one time lover already charming the next lady? How many men in the imperial baracks complained that their sisters had been _interfered with_?

Thor narrowed his proud eyes at Loki "my brother, is proficient in charms and sorcery, but he knows less about women. Tell me Loki, do you use spells or holograms to charm the ladies? I cannot remember, for it has been so long since your last dalliance." A rumble of laughter filled the banquet hall_. _

"My appetite may not be as _boundless _as yours dear brother," Loki replied with a twist of a smile, "which," he added, "exceeds that of the glutton Volstaag in its swinishness…" (Volstaag, who was at this very moment messily annihilating a leg of lamb, looked up from the miniature massacre on his plate and uttered a protest that was muffled by food.) "But it is certainly more _critical, _more… _exacting _in its _standards._"

Beating Thor in a contest of wits was like racing an old man up the royal steps. It was no feat and there was little satisfaction in it. Besides Thor would always remain Thor; golden, unshakable, infuriating, future king _Thor._

It was times like this when Loki embraced his dark thoughts about his brother, let them invade him, infect him, flower over his person like an Asgaardian forest fungus...

Yet for all his faults, he still loved his brother, fiercely. They were blood after all... It would make what he was planning difficult…

That evening as he made his way down the corridor to his private chambers, Loki was comforted by the fact that he had a night of work ahead of him. Fresh sorcery. New spells. New technology. New potions. Combinations and elements not yet discovered… More than any naïve earth women or pouting Asgaardian aristocratic that ever found herself charmed onto the swift conveyor belt of his bed; _this_ was his mistress. Science. Magic. Tools for mischief…

He was just about to round the corner when he heard a his fathers voice behind him.

"Loki my son! A word, if you please!"

Odin cut an impressive figure even in his bed time attire.

"What is it father, is everything all right?"

"Yes, yes, all is well," replied the old man, "I just wanted to discuss a matter of _trifling importance_ with you, in regards to your studies in sorcery."

Loki sighed. Why was it that his father never trusted him? There was always something overly careful, overly watchful in Odins manner toward him. He would probably trust Thor with the relics of the Frost Giants but Loki couldn't even be allowed to mind his own damn business… His father was smart.

"What is it father?" he asked, as innocently as he could muster without losing all respect for himself.

"You are a very gifted boy," Odin began. Loki could not help feeling a swell of pride rush from his heart to his ears. He basked in his fathers' approval even as he resented his need for it.

"Your spells are extraordinarily impressive, _confounding _even," Odin continued, matter of factly, "there is no doubt, among the most respected minds in the grand consulate that you are the most talented Sorcerer of your generation, if not…" Odin observed his sons whippet thin grin, "but of course you _know_ that already."

"It would be disingenuous of me, Father, to feign modesty when I am fully aware of my talents."

"Yes…" murmured Odin thoughtfully before continuing, "There has been talk, for a long time, amid the council of educators about the possibility of your taking on an apprentice. Somebody exceptionally talented from the academy of-''

Loki nearly choked on his own disdain, "you want me to baby-sit a pupil?"

"They would be your _assistant_, they would work _for_ you to help you perfect your work and they would learn along the way-''

"Father," said Loki slowly, trying to keep his wits, "I did not graduate from the Waaaaltanin academy at eight years old to become somebodys private tutor-''

"I have agreed with the council of educators that it would be beneficial to your-''

"I am a _Prince of the Realm_!"

"And as such are required to be the leader of men," said Odin strongly. He looked into Lokis eyes, daring his son to defy him. "A leader must be a good mentor. He must share his knowledge and wisdom with others. He must work not only for the betterment of his own power but for betterment of the realm."

Loki knew there was no budging on this. He sighed.

"So who is this young man," he asked his father wearily, "who must come in and interfere with my work?"

Odins eyes twinkled. "Your student is the most promising in all of Asgaard. A genius in the making."

"How exciting," said Loki sarcastically, "now if that is all, I find I had suddenly been seized by a splitting headache and crave the comforts of solitude and bed."

Odin laughed, "Yes my son that is all. Take care to rest, your apprentice arrives bright and early in the morning."


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Loki or any of the characters in the marvel universe.

Chapter 2. The Assignment

Erindis had never even ridden a horse in her life and now she was being pulled by eight of them in a carriage in the clouds. She could say all she wanted about their rumoured profligate banqueting habits but the royals certainly traveled in style. Out her window she could see stars and far, far in the distance a sparkling sliver over the horizon, the famous Bifrost Bridge.

The stories of her childhood had not prepared her for the splendour and scale of the capital city. Nothing seemed built to normal proportions. Everywhere she looked was another marvel of engineering, another palladium, another temple that seemed ready made to harbour giants. Every surface gleamed, spick, spotless, and unabashedly, outrageously ornate. She now understood why a famous Earth man had once written operas about the denizens of Asgaard that were celebrated on that realm as the height of fantasy.

And here, at last was she. Erindis Mopely Erindine, 19, the daughter of humble agrarians who had grown up smelling the ocean on the far reaches of the Brinam peninsula. She had always had a flare for sorcery; brewing potions, developing illusions and projections, spells and gadgets which had latently developed into a full on obsession.

And now after her years of training, the real lesson would begin. And the real test.

Erindis was fascinated by nature, human and otherwise. She wanted to break apart all things and examine them from within. She lost hours and days in her ornithology, her botany, in her books of philosophy and stories of every kind. Knowledge made her powerful, despite what she was.

Erindis was shy, much to her fury. She knew it sometimes made people think she was stupid. This was compounded by the fact that she had grown up to be quite beautiful (although frequently covered in soot and spills from her experiments). She was cleverer by a mile than all her compatriots marvelled at the way people behaved around a person they considered feeble-minded. They allowed themselves a certain _abandon, _a freedom to brag and talk like buffoons. She enjoyed seeing their eyes widen and then narrow and their chattering mouths snap shut when she finally and inexplicitly said something witty. She felt like a spy whose cover had been blown and it was strangely satisfying.

When she was fourteen a tractor device on her familys farm had exploded, killing her mother and leaving her with a large twisting scar down her back. It was this event that spurred her deeper into her studies than ever before. She convinced herself that if she had simply applied more time and effort into her work, she could have had invented a miraculous spell to save her mother in those final agonizing moments. The memory and the failure haunted her throughout her life. She knew that if she worked hard enough perhaps one day her discoveries could lead to advancements in healing. Perhaps if her magic was potent enough, she could help people, save them even. She hoped that one day far in the future, Aasgaard would be a tiny bit better place because she had lived.

At fifteen Erindis had entered the Asgaardian Academy and remained for four years. She had been happy here. She worked hard and met interesting people from all over the realm. She had even attended a few themed balls thrown by school. At the last one she had drunk her first cup of ale, worn the mask of a bird and waltzed with a boy. She had liked his hand on her back, and the anonymity of the mask liberated her. After the waltz she never saw or spoke to him again. But it was enough for her, that single dance. It was a start. All in all she felt she was growing. Here in the hallowed halls of the Academy she felt herself becoming less withdrawn and more of a whole person by the minute.

Then, last week, the letter. The Assignment. _From Odin himself. _

Erindis was called into a private meeting with her Professors (it was the night after the ball, she was stricken by panic! What if, in her loose lipped, loose hipped, velvety alcohol daze, she had said something scandalous within earshot of the Dean or shoved one of the chancellors? Or redecorated the head office in a new vomity colour? She couldn't remember any of this but isn't that what alcohol did? But thankfully no. It was none of those things.)

The Dean gave her a letter and ordered her to read it to herself, if she chose to accept the proposition detailed in its contents she would leave the school for the Capital in a week, if not, she was to, and he leaned in close to her face for emphasis, "_forget all about it."_

What struck her first was that it was not a holographic letter. She knew from tales about intrigue she had read in books, that this meant it was extra super top secret.

The letter Read

_To Ms. Erindis Mopely Everdine, from the desk of King Odin_

_Dear Ms. Everdine,_

_Circumstances move me to make come to you, a loyal subject of Asgaard, with an offer and that may strike you at first as being somewhat unusual. This is first and foremost an opportunity for you, the most promising student in the Academy to receive first hand training as an apprentice from the greatest sorcerer in the Realm, Loki._

Erindis gasped. The name Loki was well known even in the farthest shores of the realm. He was one of the greatest and, if far flung whispers and stories were to be believed, the most dangerous sorcerers in recorded history.

_However, I would be remiss if I did not tell you that I have certain other motives for this request. _

_Let me begin by saying that I love my son as much as any father can love his own flesh and blood. I must make that clear, before anything. However, I cannot allow my fatherly affection to blind me from certain undeniable truths. Loki can be erratic. He is a schemer, a plotter and a manipulator. The boy has half the senate in the palm of his hand. There are even rumours that he has become capable of astral projection. Whether he uses sorcery or plain manipulation to achieve his ends, it makes no difference, the fact is, few people are safe from the machination of his will. I also know that every day, toiling away in the privacy of his chambers, Loki grows more powerful. I fear there will come a time when no one, not even I, will be able to overcome his magic. Loki does not believe his brother Thor to be a worthy heir and I fear he is hatching some plot to block him from the throne. I fear my son is possessed of a scope of deviousness greater than my fatherly affections allow me to imagine… But these are private greifs and I will not burden you with them. _

_I need you, Ms. Erindine, who have an understanding of magic unmatched by your peers, to keep an eye on him and report back to me. I need to know what he is stirring. For the good of the kingdom I must be made aware of his comings and goings. _

_Loki is fiendishly smart so this task may prove difficult and even, to be entirely frank with you Ms. Erindine, deadly. But I have heard that you are unique in your intelligence as well as your talent and must have faith in the reports of others. _

_Perhaps my suspicions are wrong and Loki is innocent of intrigue. If this is the case then consider this a fine opportunity for the furthering of your education, which is a worthy thing! _

_You will be put up in the Royal Palace in chambers near Lokis and live among court. You must be stealth like in your observations and tell __**no one**__of your purpose there. _

_Please let me know within a day of receiving this letter whether I may rely on you._

_Your faithful Sovereign, _

_Odin _

Erindis was taken aback by the immediacy and the certainty of her decision. She would do it. For the good of the realm (and, she was ashamed to admit, for the good of her brain, conniving fiend or not, her mouth watered at the thought of what new magic Loki could teach. And like he said in the letter, perhaps Odin was wrong, in which case she would only profit from the arrangement).

Erindis could not believe that mere hours before she had been daydreaming about her dance with the boy at the masked ball. The memory seemed to belong to another person, to a girlhood that was far away. Now she was an agent of Odin. She had a mission, a potentially dangerous one. So why did she feel _giddy_? It made her rather disgusted with herself. It didn't fit her desired notion of herself.

It was only once her carriage was in full view of the Rainbow Bifrost Bridge seven days later that panic set in. The realization fell on her like an icicle, the cold hard fact: Loki would most probably kill her. She was in over her head. Odin had invited a lamb to the slaughter, goaded his with his _confidence in her. _Had Odin ever met her? Had the All Father ever seen her attempt small talk at a party? What if she was discovered? What creative tortures was Loki capable of?

_I shall have to help that if I can _she thought to herself and swallowed hard as gigantic platinum gates lifted and she was in the mouth of the royal compound.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Loki or any of the characters in the marvel universe.**

Chapter 3. Intrusion

That night, Loki tossed and turned sweatily in his gigantic four poster bed (with ebony posts carved to resemble coiled serpents, whose eyes, according to certain preposterous rumours, were outfitted with surveilance devices). He couldn't sleep. He was too pissed off.

_An Apprentice. _

It was the last thing he needed. Even the most accomplished of sorcerers could only slow him down. He resented his fathers need to placate his inferiors. Did Odin feel that because he and his family were so powerful he was obliged to make constant concessions to the weak? Why should Loki have to suffer for his brilliance? Why was his father always attempting to temper him, to _muzzle _him? Why was his dynamic nature always met with caution?

_Why couldn't Odin just be proud?_

He was proud of _Thor_. Why couldn't they be equal?

All these thoughts danced in Lokis mind as tossed in his bed. He wore his black linen pants and nothing else yet still felt uncomfortably hot. He sighed, it was one of the downsides of being able to psychicly affect matter around him; the volcano in his brain would not stay contained. It was useless to court sleep.

He may as well do something productive.

He didn't bother to put on a shirt before walking down the corridor to his vast laboratory/living quarters. A few torches still flickered along the walls and the space hummed in green cavernous solitude.

_Not for long. _Loki winced.

He stood with his body facing the massive wall of books across room. From this vantage point he could read only one of the titles: _The Art of Shape Shifting at the Dawn of the 21__st__ Century._ Next to it was a jar of some poor pickledlizard and next to that a figurine of a woman from the Paleolithic era of Midland. Loki closed his eyes and stilled his body. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, coaxing all of the days indignities out with the air. He repeated this seven times and on the eighth inhale he leaned forward a little, bent his knees and concentrated, willing his bones to-

_POP!_

Loki opened his eyes. The room looked quite different now. He could see only a vast stone floor stretching before him like a black desert. He glanced upward up to see that his desk now towered over him. If it had been anatomically possible, his mouth would have formed a satisfied smile; the son of Odin had turned himself into a beetle.

Loki loved shape shifting. It was useful for tricks and stirring mayhem, for sure but it wasn't only that which made him love it. It was the freedom. The liberation from his own body, _his own person even. _Loki had always thought that the tragedy of existence was it's limitation to one central vessel of experience. He could never be anything other than himself. His entire life would be this_ one_ version of existence. One could have a hear a variety songs, have a variety of foods to eat, have variety of liqueurs and a variety of lovers in their bed; but never _a variety of being. _It seemed unjust somehow.

Only shape shifting brought him a small modicum this. Of course, he never lost his own consciousness, but felt, in rare instances, to truly _become _a frog, or a salmon or a ferocious wolf and it felt strangely peaceful.

He was about to change back when he heard voices in the hallway, and heavy oak door creak open.

"These are Master Lokis quarters," he recognized the voice of Helga, one of the Palace Housekeepers. She was with someone else.

With all the speed of his dextrous beetle self, Loki scurried up the wall to get a full view of the intruders. The stranger was wore a hooded cloak, Loki could not make out their face in the dim light.

"Your bedchamber is just down the corridor on the left", Helga informed the stranger, indicating a small interruption in the sea of book shelves. "Master Loki is on the North end just there. This is the area where you will work."

"Thank you," said an unmistakably female voice_, _"I am sure I will manage my way round."

"Yes Miss," said Helga, "I imagine you are exhausted from your long journey and will be wanting to head straight to bed."

"O, I'm sorry to put you out by arriving at this hour, I-''

"It is no trouble at all. Good night."

"Good night."

Then Helga was gone and his new apprentice was alone.

The young woman lit one of lamps and gently pulled down her hood. Loki was instantly arrested. She was breathtaking. _The coast of Brinaan should be proud of itself. _This was indeed unexpected, but it would take more than a beautiful face to quell his displeasure at her presence.

Loki could tell that the young woman was nervous. She walked about, looking all around, clearly not wanting to disturb anything. Her manner reminded him of a new colt. She had the sense of the outdoors to her, a kind of a _rush._ He instantly pictured her running through a bucolic field. She had not been brought up in neoclassical palace.

She was studying his home, pouring over all the detritus of his life. _Trespassing_.

_She will see what happens to trespassers._

This wasn't going to work. This wasn't going to happen. She could very well be a spy sent for by his father to keep an eye on him. (O yes, this possibility had not escaped his mind...) And even in the likely event that she wasn't, how could he achieve the scheme he was planning with her meddling about. No, this would not do. He would drive her out, make leave of her own accord… He would just have to make her situation unbearable. It wouldn't be difficult. If anyone could succeed in making a hell of a poor provincial scholars life, it was certainly the god of mischief, wasn't it?

The beetle smiled again in its mind.

Something in the air made Erindis shiver.

Being in Lokis living quarters felt like being inside a gigantic tomb filled with relics of all the darkest curiosities of the world. The walls were paneled in dark green and lined top to bottom with a staggering amount of books (she guessed the number to be within the hundreds of thousands). They high up toward towering vaulted ceiling. It was painted in a map of the universe as well as panels depicting sea monsters in grim Goya like tones. In the dim light Erindis could make out eyes and mouths with glowing teeth. Next to the fire place were a pair of identical black couches sitting on either side of it. One of them was flickering in and out of being like the picture on a television with bad reception, revealing itself to be hologram of its doppelganger. At the centre of the place there were 4 long tables strewn with every imaginable instrument of science. And two opposite facing corridors, both leading to bedchambers. It made Erindis blush to think that she and Loki would be sleeping in such close proximity… _But its only sensible! For the work, _she reasoned.

She noticed there were many scrolls on one of the tables. Erindis knew she should take this opportunity, alone as she was, to look through them. Perhaps there was evidence of some plot Loki was concocting, she thought before laughing at her own naivite, surely someone as fiendishly smart as Loki would have more sense then to leave his private papers lying around for any unexpected visitor to see… Still, she leaned forward for better look.

_Mechanics of Astral Projection _read one heading. She could not help but feel a rush of excitement in her chest, as if she really had come here with the sole intent to learn.

Then another odd looking piece of parchment grabbed her eye, it was emblazoned with a gold silluette of a winged horse, beneath, it read:

_The Solar Palio _

_September 5__th__ in the Royal Arena, _

_The Chariot Race of the Century_

_Marking the Birthday of The Mighty Thor _

"Fond of betting on the exploits of farm animals?"

Erindis gasped and jolted back violently. A voice, mean yet intensely silky, startled her. From the shadows of the other end of the room a towering man with a strikingly bare alabaster torso emerged. He was staring at her with a mixture of amusement and icily contained rage. His eyes, which were a fantastic green, seemed to glow with contempt and his exuisitely shaped mouth formed a small grin.

Erindis let out a sputtering of sounds (why did the ability to form proper words always fail her at the most inopportune moments?)

The man arched one inky eyebrow.

"H-h-horses, you mean?" she finally managed.

"I was thinking more of the riders. But the differences between the two are negligible…"

The man took a few steps closer to her. Erindis felt her knees wobble slightly.

"Enjoying your little rummage through my personal papers?"

"I- I was only-''

"Only what? Looking for a manual on interdimensional teleportation?"

_That does sound good _she thought, "I- no-no I- please forgive me, my name is Erindis Mopely Erindine and I'm your-''

"_Erindis Mopely Erindine_?" said Loki incredulously.

Erindis blushed hotly, " no, it was my mo-"

"Did your parents name you out of a children's musical?" he sneered.

Erindis felt like a hot poker was slowly searing her stomach. "Erindis Mopely Erindine may not be a very serious sounding name," she began, with full composure, "it may lack a _durable, heroic _sort of quality. When spoken aloud, its syllables do not immediately inspire a sense of respect and command. I admit that it is actually quite a _ridiculous_ name. It is certainly not an _austere, dry _and _sober _kind of name, like '_Loki_'."

Loki laughed genuinely. He seemed more surprised than annoyed. Erindis did not know what had suddenly filled her with such boldness. She blinked and stared at the God of mischief in a state of mild shock. Then she caught herself admiring her fine naked torso and _caught him catching her do it. _

"Well Erindis, it appears the pompousness of our names is well matched, even if our _skills_ are not," He waved his hand in the air and a shirt materialized, he put it on unselfconsciously as he spoke, "I did not expect you here until tomorrow."

"It is tomorrow Sir," Erindis observed.

Lokis emerald eyes narrowed, "then you must start working right away," he said with an impish smirk.

He came closer until he was standing uncomfortably close to her. He observed her with what seemed like peeked, not-so-innocent interest. At this distance she felt his warm, fresh smelling breath rain down on her forehead, making it erupt in alarming sensations. What kind of game was he playing?

Erindis was gob smacked. He was even more gorgeous up close. She didn't know why this fact should be shocking. It was just that whenever people talked about the legendary Loki they never… they never… They mentioned his eyes; they never mentioned his lips, or how pleasingly his pale, almost erotically translucent skin curved over his cheeks. They never mentioned the glorious fact of his physical person. That he was over six feet tall yet moved with an almost feline grace. And, thought Erindis, they never mentioned_ HIS VOICE. _It elicited the same reaction in her as if someone had poured something warm and velvety all down her back. _What need for sorcery was there with a voice like that? _

She felt lost in a trance before being startled again by a sudden WHOOSH! She looked up to see that Loki was now several feet away from her and between them on the floor was large bucket full of grey water and a pathetic little sponge bobbing on the surface.

"You can start by scrubbing these floors. They haven't had a decent wash since Volstaag his weight all over them."

Erindis (who, it must be said was utterly exhausted at this late night hour after her long journey) blinked. She didn't think the work was beneath her, but she certainly hadn't expected her first task of apprenticing with a master sorcerer to involve manual labour.

"Sir, don't you think I could be of more help-''

"Help?" Loki blinked. "You think that I need help in my magic? _From you?_"

His voice was soft and cruel now.

"N-no, I simply tho-''

"Let us get one thing straight, Erindis," he began silkily, "as you seem to be a little confused about this are not here to help me. You are here to do as I say. I am not some preening teacher at your _Academy of Infants_ who praises you whenever you perform some vapid trick. You will not impress me Erindis. You will simply do what I tell you to do and pray that some modicum of my abilities will be passed on to you. _Which they won't_.''

Erindis felt as if she had been jabbed in the heart by an icicle.

He didn't have to ask her if it was clear. "Now, the floor".

With that he turned around and disappeared into the corridor leading to his quarters.

"No spells," she heard him say before the heavy oak door closed behind him.

She would not cry. What could she have expected? That he would be a kind, doting teacher? The only reason she was even there was because his own father suspected him of treason! This wasn't going to be a good time. She had known that. What she hadn't expected was to feel like _that. _It was as if he planted an atomic bomb in her nether regions when he got up close like that. Was this some advanced form of sorcery that she had never encountered?

Of course not! _He's just attractive! _And insufferable! She promised herself that she wasn't going to let Loki intimidate her. Her mission was for the good of the realm and she was going to carry it out competently. She would bring his royal traitorous ass down if she needed to, she vowed, as she settled down for a dizzy night of scrubbing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much for the support and reviews, it means so much to me :D**

**I don't own any of the characters except Erindis**

Chapter 4: Bluffing

By the time Erindis finished scrubbing of the floor, the murmurings of early morning were audible from the floor above. Soon it would be time for breakfast banquet and she would have to face a throng of courtiers. She felt as though she might be sick all over the newly sparkling floor. Her back and her eyes ached as she hurried to her bedroom.

Never had anything felt more welcome to her than the yielding softness of the pillow against her cheek. Through the window the Capital City glittered in stillness and the sky was flaked with orange. It came instantly; pitch black, dreamless sleep, the kind that had eluded her for ages.

What felt like minutes rather than hours later, Erindis was hurrying down the grand corridor toward the banquet hall, running her fingers through stubborn hair and praying that she had not reached new heights of dishevelment just in time for her entry into the court of Asgaard.

Inside, the Golden hall hummed with people and activity. All were seated at a long table laden with food with Odin the All Father at it's head. On two smaller thrones on either side of him sat his strikingly mismatched sons. Thor on the right, Loki on the left. Thor more than lived up to his reputation as a granite chunk of a man. He was chatting easily with a beautiful woman seated near him. His hair was the colour of sunshine and his arms the size of felled tree trunks. He smiled a lot. Erindis could tell that whatever quality it was that made people want to follow certain men, Thor had it in spades. She also could tell that it had not necessarily been earned. Loki, whom Erindis had not heard leave his quarters that morning, wore an inscrutable expression on his face and watched the room intently. In the morning light his hair looked so black it was almost blue.

Then, to her alarm, those scanning eyes found her and their gazes locked from across the room. He stared at her unwaveringly. He seemed to almost be daring her to look away, to _run _away like she wanted to with every fibre of her body. But her gaze remained still and resolute.

_Yes I spent half the night scrubbing your floor. What of it? Am I supposed to be destroyed? Please. _

Erindis smiled and bowed her head slightly. Lokis eyes narrowed and then suddenly Odin called the room to attention.

"Ah, at last!" he said warmly, " Welcome Ms. Erindis Erindine of Brinnan and the Asgaard Academy, who is joining us at court as the apprentice of my youngest son Loki."

It terrified Erindis to become the centre of attention. Everyone swerved their heads and crane their necks to look at her. There were so many faces, so many glaring eyes. They were all dressed in sumptuous garments that made Erindis blush for her plain ensemble. Many of the women wore jewellery that dangled incandescently from their wrists and earlobes. She must have appeared to them to look like a peasant. She noticed that quite a few had looked back at Loki when Odin mentioned him and then again at her. There was something like envy in their eyes… Could it be? Were they were jealous? _They have not spent last night on their knees scrubbing filth._

"Please," called Odin, "come join us." He pointed to an empty seat next to Loki. Erindis' head span. She bowed and made her way awkwardly across the hall, mortified by the fact that they were all still staring at her even after she had sat down.

Beside her she could tell Loki was enjoying her discomfort. Slowly the room resumed its chatter.

"I hope you slept well my dear," Odin told her kindly. Erindis had heard so many stories about his exploits in battle and now saw that he had the eyes of a grandfather.

"Yes very well Sir, thank you," she replied. She sensed Lokis' smirk even if she could not see it.

"And your chambers are to your liking?" the old man queried.

"Yes, they are wonderful." Erindis scanned Odins face for any hint, any micro betrayal of the secret scheme he had brought her into. Nothing! _This old man is devious,_ she thought, _so perhaps it is a family trait…_

"And are you doing everything in your power to make our guest feel welcome Loki?" Odin asked his son.

Loki had peeled and was now slicing an apple with a small gold dagger. He brought the pieces to his lips in a manner Erindis found infuriatingly sensuous. "Everything I can Father". Then he put down the knife and is hand accidentally brushed hers. It felt as cold as frost yet made her feel hotter.

"FATHER!" bellowed a voice, "you told me we were expecting a scholar from the Academy, not a _Goddess_…" Erindis looked up to see that Thor had strolled over from his seat and was now towering over her with his hands resting on the back of Lokis chair. He placed his giant hand on top of hers, scooped it up and brought it to his lips. His beard scratched as he placed a rather lingering kiss upon it. "I am Thor."

Erindis could feel the stare of every woman in the room upon her now. She half expected daggers to come flying at her as in some ancient battle. To be honest she almost wished they _were _ real daggers, instead of figurative ones.

"I-I am very pleased to meet you Sir."

"Please, call me Thor…"

"I am pleased to meet you _Thor._"

"Do you enjoy chariot races?"

"I-I- I haven't really-"

"You must accompany me the Colloseum this weekend then! You are going to LOVE it!"

"Well I don't know if I ca-''

"Then afterwards we can feast together in my quarters. Volstaag has just got his hands on some-"

"Erindis will be _busy_ Brother," Loki interjected coolly. Either she was dreaming or there was a hint of possessiveness in his that beautiful voice of his.

"Well yes, I _know_ that, but she can-" protested Thor.

"She will be _very _busy. There is much _learning _to be done," Loki said with a note of finality.

Thor flashed his brother a shit eating grin. "I'll bet there is," he said. Erindis blushed hotly. Loki frowned.

"This isn't the sort of learning that can be accomplished through a bottle of Mitaaaaag Vodka and a few awkward puns about hammers, Brother," he said. Erindis could tell that Thor had been chastened.

"I didn't mean anything by it Erindis," the God of Thunder told her with an earnestness that she could tell was uncharacteristic for him. In that moment she recognized Thor for what he was: a boy. He wasn't wilfully arrogant, just a little green. When he grew up a little perhaps he would make a good King.

"No, you never mean anything that you say Brother, you just make ignorant licentious remarks," Loki was hammering the nail further into Thor. His voice voozed with venom. Erindis was speechless. Could it be? Was Loki_…defending her?_ She nearly fainted with disbelief as he delivered the final blow "... remarks about people who are more serious and accomplished than you." _Serious and accomplished_? Hadn't he called her an _infant _last night? Wasn't she just a hopeless, talentless hack in his eyes?

"Please forgive me," Thor told her sheepishly. Then he regained a little of his wilted stature before declaring "I very much look forward to seeing you again Erindis." Kissing her hand once more, the God of Thunder glided back to his seat. Erindis could hardly believe what had transpired.

"Are you finished eating?" Loki demanded curtly.

"Yes."

"Good, we must work now." He arose from his seat and flipped back his cape in one graceful liquid motion and soon she was trailing after him down the palace stairs toward his chambers.

"How skilled are you at alchemy?" he demanded, without turning around.

She had always received perfect marks for her work in Alchemy from the Academy. Her potions were praised for their cleanness and tastelessness. She had been the only one who could successfully brew up an odourless Skaalab potion for the Second Central Hospital of Asgaard. (More than a few persnickity children were greatful.) But she knew it wouldn't do to appear boastful to Loki.

"I'm above competent Sir," she replied.

"Are you?" he said amusedly.

"I believe so."

"And tell me, have you ever brewed a Sulphur-climide-orellian potion?"

"A what?" She had honestly never heard of it.

Loki sighed impatiently as he pushed open the heavy oak doors of his quarters. "It is a grade H pepto-neurological enhancer which temporarily changes the phase of the cells in ones body and allows for teleportation over vast distances. It also allows one to walk through solid objects at will." Loki must have seen the shine in her eyes as she heard this for he added "of course it wouldn't work on more than 0.00000000000000000000000014 percent of the population as these are skills requiring an almost superhuman level of concentration and years of perfecting".

"Of course," agreed Erindis, before adding "and three years training in molecular distillation exercises… which I believe only _two _people of the realm have accomplished successfully so far." She knew he knew she was talking about the two of them. Before her Loki had been the only one in recorded history to complete the rigorous process. _Before her_.

Loki smiled, they were now standing close together by the fireplace. He neared her until she could count the multitude of dark lashes rimming his spectacular eyes.

"I know your reputation," he said silkily. She could not help but look at his lips when he was so close to her. They were a little wet and more tempting than the ultimate honey. That familiar tingling, explosive feeling lay siege to her being once again. It was like he set every one of her nerve endings on fire just by being near. How was this to be tolerated? "Do not mistake what I said this morning for praise," he said dangerously.

"I don't."

"Good. It would take a particularly slow ape to be less serious and accomplished than my brother."

"And yet," something made Erindis say, "he will be King."

Lokis' pupils fixed on her like black ice floating in glass of absinthe. "Yes," he said.

"And," ventured Erindis, aghast at her own boldness, "this does not bother you?"

She could tell that Loki was reading her, trying to perforate the layers of her character and look deep inside her mind, find out her intentions. She would not yield to him easily. And he, likewise, would not crack. Loki held himself in perfect control and yet he loved, he _thrived, _on chaos. People on primitive worlds worshipped him as a deity and she now thought this was little wonder. Looking into those eyes she recognized that he had an apocalyptic quality to him; like _Hades_, like _Kali_.

_He could destroy me and entire realms with the petulance of a child. He is that powerful…_

"The world is not fixed in justice and order," Loki said indifferently. "My father has fought against colonies of human flesh eaters. Man is not noble in its deepest nature. Why should his social structures reflect anything more? Why should people not expect the fate of the realm to be dictated by accidents of the bloodline?" He was a perfect cipher, she couldn't figure out if he meant it or not. Surely _not_. What's more she suddenly found herself thinking very ill of Thor… How unjust it was that he should be king just because-

_Wait a minute_.

THIS WAS LOKI! This is what he did! He said things in the hopes that people would be swayed to think the exact opposite! Well it wasn't going to work on her!

"I could not agree more," she said defiantly.

"Yes. Why should one strive to reform the system?" Loki tested again, "we hardly deserve more," and then he leaned closer and cupped her cheek delicately with his hand. He spoke softly into the shell of her ear, filling it with an obscene warmth, making her feel as though she might burst, "we are, after all, _savages_."

Erindis swallowed hard. She felt she may fall over if she didn't grab the top of the fireplace for support. Then Loki pulled back suddenly as if nothing had happened. "Now then. The Sulphur-climide-orellian potion! It isn't going to brew itself. I shall require you to prepare the ingredients. Read the instructions _carefully._ A wrong dose of anything can be potentially lethal."

And with that Erindis set about for an afternoon of work as though her body wasn't screaming from its very marrow.

Loki grinned as he watched her shuffling about, measuring and chopping. He knew she had called his bluff. _Clever girl. _

Perhaps this provincial girl was a deadlier opponent than he had first thought. No, she would not be vanquished by chores or physical discomfort… Loki knew already where her weakness lay… It was really quite unexpected. _Lucky. _He had felt the quickness of her pulse in the hollow of his hand. He had seen her eyes turn to glass when she looked into his. Erindis Mopely Erindine could not be intimidated, but perhaps she could be _seduced_…


	5. Chapter 5

**I can't tell you how much the support and reviews have meant to me! I am so honoured that anybody is even reading my story :D Much love, hope you enjoy.**

**I do not own any of the characters in the Marvel Universe**

Chapter 5: Under the Influence

All afternoon, from the corner of his eye, Loki watched his new Apprentice being diligent. She boiled and she chopped. She hunched over a microscope with her eyes peering into the lens. She flew from one end of the lab to the other, never once losing track of the multitude of hissing pots and beakers scattered at each station. She took notes and occasionally appeared to be puzzling over something. Then her face would light up in epiphany and she'd eagerly scribble something down. Loki admired the way she tackled the messier ingredients; how she wrestled with an entire bush of Thorny Kapis before shredding the bark and separating the necessary twigs and branches with surgical precision. She had strong hands. He could tell they were used to touching earth; that they didn't demure from cold or heat or roughness. To be a good sorcerer was to be in tune with nature, to grab it by the reigns and gallop, with supreme confidence, toward the edges of possibility. Even performing these relatively menial tasks, Erindis was thrilling to watch. She was, in a word, a natural.

Loki and Erindis worked side by side in an extraordinary harmony. Loki had never expected she would keep up with him as well as this. At times it was seemed as though her movements were an extension of his own, like the two of them were like halves of one ceaselessly flowing clockwork body, sharing one pulse, following the rhythm of consecutive actions.

Every once in a while she would catch him staring and her and those already flushed cheeks would turn a bright beet red. It was flattering, of course, that he elicited such a response. She may have been a morbid irritant but she was certainly a beautiful one. And what's more she seemed completely unaware of it. Erindis wore her beauty like comfy old sock. He guessed she probably went through life supremely ignorant of the effect she had on men. This brilliant girl, he thought, was a complete neophyte in that most potent of sorceries: the feminine magic. Could it be that _she_ was a spy working for his father? If she was, Loki wondered whether she was fully aware of the precariousness of her situation. She would almost certainly be bound by secrecy; who could stop her from disappearing tomorrow? Surely there could be some terrible _accident_ in the lab? It oddly gratified Loki to know that his father did not yet think him such a monster that he would fear sending this innocent girl into his lair. It touched him, this sign of faith, more profoundly than he cared to admit.

"I've finished mixing the base with the top notes", said Erindis, running a residued hand through her hair and simultaneously smearing some green on her temple. "I was wondering if you wanted me to start on the powdered ingredients tonight."

It was already evening and the dinner horn would call soon. Loki was famished and could tell that she was too.

"No, I think we'd better quit for tonight. It's almost dinner and god forbid we rob my brother of an occasion to flirt with you this evening..."

Erindis blushed. She did not know what to say to that.

"I must admit I have rarely seen Thor that smitten…" continued Loki, teasingly, "unless of course he happened to be looking in a mirror."

"I'm sure that isn't true. There are so many elegant women here at court."

"Yes," agreed Loki, "and they are so good at smiling. And at feeding each other morsels of gossip. And saying one thing out load while whispering another."

"Are you so critical of my sex Sir?"

"Not at all," protested Loki, "the men are just as bad. They are vain and self important. They posture about and argue about wealth and sports. They intimidate their sons and cloister their daughters. Worst of all are the so called 'warriors'. Whom do they fight? They fight over roast drumsticks half the time."

Erindis laughed, "surely not." The warriors were renowned the realm over. "They are the ones who keep us safe," she said.

"You really think so?"

"Who else?"

"It is not _war_ that keeps our world safe but diplomacy. All of these warriors of my generation; the ones with their fingers itching for battle, they know not what _war _means. They hope for war, but what they do not realize is that war is a thing devoid of hope entirely".

_Wise words. _For the first time since she had known him, Loki seemed completely earnest. His face glowed with a pained wisdom. Had the mask shifted slightly?

"Your father is a famous warrior," she ventured.

"Yes."

"Did he ever tell you stories about his battles in Jotenheim?"

"All the time. He would gather Thor and I on each knee and tell us about his dealings with the Frost Giant King Loafey, the man who had 'plucked out one of my eyes and kept it as a talisman'," Loki imitated Odins voice perfectly. "We believed him and were revolted, naturally," Loki smiled at the memory, "but my Father always said that the greatest accomplishment was not the Asgaardians' victory but the end of the war itself. He had secured the protection of the nine realms but at grave cost."

"There are rumours that the Frost Giants are plotting again, that they even have spies at this court. Do you know if that's true?" It wasn't like Erindis to repeat unsubstantiated rumours, but she could not resist on this one occasion. Who better to get answers from? She may as well play the role of a naïve apprentice.

Loki looked at her for a moment with suspicion. After a moments deliberation he answered, "we have reason to believe that, yes."

Erindis' eyes widened. "What are they planning to do about it?"

"Nothing," answered Loki bluntly.

"_Nothing_?"

"Odin is adamant that Asgaard is safe from the Giants subterfuge." Loki waited a moment before adding "_Thor_ thinks that we should invade Jotenheim."

"And what do _you_ think?"

"I think that would be an _extreme _measure."

"And what would you do, God of Mischief?" probed Erindis coyly, "Soothe the Frost Giants with _your silver tongue_?"

Loki looked at her with wetted intrigue, "And what, pray tell, have you heard of my silver tongue Ms. Erindis Mopely Erindine?".

"That it is a deft instrument, which causes more trouble than it assuages."

Loki smiled broadly. "It _is _deft", Liki assured her in his most molten voice, "And it is multitalented; it is good at doing _great variety_ of things."

Erindis gulped. She had to get out from Lokis' mesmeric stare. She wished she could run away and to somewhere with a bucket of ice water, far, far away from this man.

"You've got some dust on your face," Loki noticed.

Her hands flew up to her face.

"No, no, not there, you are _making it far worse_ Erindis, allow me." He strode closer and brought his fingers to her temple. He pressed down, gently messaging the dirt away. Erindis was mortified. Not only was she proving herself to be a total slob, but her insides were once again _throbbing_ from one of his touches.

"And there is some in your hair as well," he said, casually running his hand through it. His fingers tugged slightly in a way that was not altogether unpleasant. "_Tsk, _And your forehead too." _O_ _now he's just being cruel. _He placed his thumb just above the space between her eye brows and traced an agonizingly slow path first across the right side of the brow ridge and then did the same on the left. It felt wonderful. Erindis desperately hoped that he had no idea what he was rousing in her. She was good at masking emotions like sadness and anger when necessary; but had never before been required to conceal ecstacy. She could hardly remember the last time she had even felt it.

Then Loki suddenly stopped his administrations. "There. You look almost presentable. Are we to banquet then?"

Erindis could not have felt more self conscious as she and Loki entered the banquet hall together that evening. The room looked even grander than it had in the morning. Now thousands of tear drop sized rose lights hung from the vault of the ceiling and bathed everything in pink honey. Musicians played and the courtiers, swathed in bright, jewel toned silks and coats of shimmering armour, wandered amid two central tables laden with _everything_. They reminded Erindis of the illustrated books she'd read about Birds of Paradise (except that birds didn't tip back glasses of champagne.) It was intimidating to have to make an entrance here, infinitely more so to do it accompanied by a Prince of the Realm…

Crowds parted as they crossed the hall. People nodded at Loki. Some even bowed. Erindis noticed women looking her up and down. Before coming here she had changed into her finest dress. It was pale blue and simply cut. Clearly these ladies were not impressed with the dress and with her person.

"Loki," called out a dashing man with a funny looking beard, "at last you grace us with your presence. And your new Apprentice, who we are relieved see, has not been de-materialized in some canny trick!"

"Good evening to you too Fandral," Loki deadpanned as grabbed a seat at the table with Thor and his gang. Erindis followed suit. A striking warrior maiden smiled warmly at Erindis from across the table.

"I'm sure you wouldn't have allowed yourself be de-materialized," she leaned in and whispered to her conspiratorially, "I'm Sif."

"Erindis," she replied shaking her extended hand.

"This is Volstagg," she said, indicating to the man next to her whose copper beard was dotted with bits of pastry. "Mrrrffffff-prreased to mleet ooo," he said with his mouth full.

"And this is Hogun," said Sif turning to the serious looking man to her left who simply nodded at Erindis.

"And you already know Thor…"

Sif craned her neck to look at Thor, sitting a few seats away, lost in conversation with a sloe eyed maiden. "…Who seems to be a bit preoccupied at the moment."

"Yes, I met him this morning, he's _charming._"

"And how are you getting along with Loki?" Sif asked with interest.

"I don't think he likes having an apprentice," Erindis answered warily.

"I should think not!" Volstagg cried before biting into the flesh of mango. Some of the juices squirted on Hogun who stoicly wiped his cheek.

"Don't let him get to you," said Sif. "Ever since we were children he'd do a slow burn on you if he didn't get his way." Erindis could just picture it, little Loki not getting first pick of toys and setting a cloud of locusts on the other children…

"He'll probably try to rope you into one of his schemes."

Erindis wondered if Loki could hear this conversation. He was only feet away, and although he appeared to be engrossed in a conversation with Fandral, she suspected his ears were antennaed in every direction.

"People much sterner looking than you have been corrupted by the God of Mischief…" Sif said with a knowing smile.

Erindis found herself staring at Loki. He was sitting back elegantly in his chair as Fandral regaled him with some story about living in a wood in the English countryside of Earth. ("I'm sure that had you been there, Loki, you would have turned yourself into a serpent and bitten the Sheriffs head off, but we had no such faculties! We had only our bows and arrows and our wits!"). Loki arched one eye brow high as he brought a glass of brandy to his lips. _His expressions knew how to be quite adorable at times._ Erindis watched the liquid travel beneath his throat. She wondered if anyone had ever told him how beautiful he was. Every once in while he cast micro glances at the various groups assembled around the table. She could tell his attention was in many places at once. Yet he had the focus of a razor.

Then, suddenly, his eyes caught hers. He smiled and she realized he was coming over and that he was carrying an extra glass of brandy with him.

"Care to toast our days' work?" he asked mischievously as he slid into the seat next to her.

Erindis felt very embarrassed, "I- I don't like the taste." It was true, she didn't. Much to her annoyance, the supreme social lubricant always tasted like battery acid to her.

"What do you wish it tasted like?" Loki asked.

Erindis laughed at the question, "I don't know… maybe cold apricot juice."

"Taste it," he said offering her the glass.

"I really don't think I'd-"

"Taste it," he commanded gently.

Erindis took the glass of brandy from him and cautiously brought it to her lips, preparing herself for the vile experience. She took a sip. To her surprise, her mouth was filled with the sweetest liquid of her childhood. It was the juice her mother used to make for her, squeezed from freshly fallen apricots. They had drunk it sitting in the shade of a leafy oak. It was the height of summer. The sea was calm. They wore aprons.

"H-How did you…?"

"Magic, obviously."

But how had he gotten tha _exact _taste? The taste of her childhood, the taste that made her want to shout with joy and cry all at once? Erindis found that she had also acquired an alcoholic buzz. Everything around her seemed a little less foreboding. The room and the people in it; Lokis' godly face; the swell of music: it all blurred into one blissfully pleasurable experience. She let out a giggle. Loki was pleased.

"B-but how did you…?" she questioned again.

"Replicate it exactly? The taste you had in your mind?"

"Yes. How did you turn it into _my _apricot juice?"

"That, in your hand, is a glass of brandy."

She looked down at the glass in her hand. She felt like a child.

"It is not _I_ who have bewitched that liquid but _you,_ _your_ mind." Erindis looked at him incredulously.

"Much of the art of sorcery is about _perception_. One uses peoples' sensoral perceptions of the world to confound them".

"I don't follow…" Erindis said. She was now playing with a golden acorn she had picked up from the table.

"You go through life believing that what you are experiencing is reality yes?

"Yes," she said.

"You rely on your senses to give you information about reality, yes?"

"Yes," said Erindis holding her acorn to the light and watching its golden cap glitter.

"You trust them implicitly?"

"I suppose so," she answered.

"Really?" Loki asked, he was grinning now. Erindis looked down at the golden acorn in her hand and found that it was now a crushed cherry. She looked back to the place on the table where she had picked it up. There was a bowl of dark glossy cherries there and littered beside it a few stray ones that had fallen out.

"I thought you didn't do parlour tricks," she said.

Loki smiled at this. "I don't. Picture what would have happened if it had been a dagger you were playing with just now." Erindis swallowed hard as Loki continued "And that would only be tiniest of demonstrations. Imagine the confusion, the _chaos_ one could wreak over a larger scale…" For a moment Loki appeared lost in some terrifying spectacle in his minds eye.

"You talk of chaos through sorcery," said Erindis, "you talk of using our talents to do… to do… _bad_ _things._"

"I talk of mischief Erindis", he corrected her. "I personally would never dreeeeeeeeeeam of using my powers toward real destruction. I am not a monster." Loki stared at her hotly, daring her to disbelieve him. It would appear that he knew his reputation. "But," he continued, "if one is to be a good sorcerer, one must accept ones craft for what it is. One must recognize its darknesses and _love it for what it is,_ the way one would a lover, with all their interminable flaws and their infuriating habits..." he looked deeply into her eyes as his voice trailed off. She felt his intense gaze as a warm sensation on her face. Their knees had been touching for the length of this conversation. It was the lightest of contacts yet it from it emanated shockwaves that threatened to overcome Erindis completely. _He feels me too, _she couldn't help thinking,_ he knows that we are touching..._ But there was no such volcano in him. _Surely._ Loki took a sip of his brandy and for a while they just sat together without saying anything; the two of them in the middle of this bustling banquet hall, as though sealed off in a bubble of their own magic.

Could she believe him when he said he wasn't up to any treason? It hardly seemed to matter to her now, in this moment.

She had never wanted to kiss anyone as much as she wanted to kiss Loki right now.

All her life Erindis had studied nature. She had understood why living matter continued: because it was driven to copulate. She had known but she had never _understood_, she had never suffered first hand the NEED, the NEED that seemed to negate all else; _even life itself_. Now as she stared at Loki driblets of sweat poured down her neck and her lungs were filled with the odour of life. She was felt herself to be standing on the edge of something, something that threatened to eat her whole, and she didn't care. _Was this what people talked about when they talked about the sensuousness of doom?_

She wanted him.

And she hated him. She hated him as she had hated no one else before. He was a liar and a manipulator. She knew that, so how dare he make her feel this way? She looked down at her brandy/apricot juice. Is this what he did? Rearrange reality until it was custom made, infinitely sweeter than the original? Is that how he lured people? Was she already slipping? Had she already been caught in his web?

Her reverie was interrupted by the voice of Odin.

"Loki, Erindis good evening," the All Father said looking down at them warmly. Erindis felt as though she had just been caught trying to hop over a fence with a stolen sheep. Her knees and Lokis' broke contact.

"Hi!" she said.

_We were just talking._

"Loki," said Odin, "the Lord of Lagloooon is with us tonight, accompanied by his daughter Freyja, won't you go and greet them?"

Loki looked mildly annoyed to be asked to canoodle by his father. "Very well," he said, then turning to Erindis, "don't go anywhere." His voice was half joking, half possessive.

Then she was alone at the table with the All Father. "The hedychiums are at their most fragrant this time of the year," the old man informed her, "I wonder if you would join me on the balcony for a little stroll, where we may best take in their perfume."

"All right," said Erindis taking the old mans outstretched arm.

The main balcony of the banquet hall teemed with flowers. Above them the sky was a shimmering vault of stars with the city reclining beneath. In the distance she saw it again: the Bifrost Bridge, the portal to other worlds.

"We can't talk here," Odin said, his manner suddenly alert. "Take my hand," he ordered. Erindis gripped the old mans hand. "This may feel a little-''

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

"-strange."

They were suddenly standing before a gigantic golden sphere, on a sparkling platform at the very edge of the city. Erindis could hardly believe it, they were _on _the Bifrost!

A beautiful man in a suit and helmet of gold stood guard in front of them. He bowed to Odin.

"What is your wish All Father?" he inquired in an impossibly deep voice.

"Good Heimdall, I would speak with this woman inside the Bifrost, away from prying eyes and spells."

"Enter." And with that Heimdall stepped aside and the doors of the sphere spun open.

Once they were inside Erindis couldn't help marvelling at this legendary place. It was steeped in such history that made it almost holy. It suddenly hit her, the _power_ of the Æsir, the gods of Asgaard. They were the rulers of the universe. What had she gotten herself into?

"We don't have much time," Odin said, "what have you observed so far?"

Erindis panicked, "nothing outrightly suspicious… yet."

She felt as though she had failed somehow, already. Odin must have sensed her fear for he placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and said, "I wouldn't have thought so my Dear. You must not be discouraged. What did he ask you to do?"

"Today he had me prepare the ingredients for a Sulphur-climide-orellian potion."

Odin stared at her blankly.

"It makes you able to teleport really far, and walk through walls."

"Interesting. What else?"

Erandis wondered whether it would be relevant to mention she had been made to scrub the floor but decided against it. "Nothing." Then she recalled an earlier conversation with Loki. "Um, I'm not sure if this means anything…"

"What?" Odin demanded.

"Loki told me that he believes the Frost Giants might have infiltrated the court of Asgaard." She tried to read the old mans expression for any sign that this was true. It was inscrutable.

"Go on."

"He said you thought Asgaard to be secure, but that Thor thinks we should invade Jotenheim."

Odins brow was knitted in thought.

"But," said Erindis cautiously, "I never know when he is lying or telling the truth." She didn't want to appear to be insulting The All Fathers son.

"You are right to be careful child," said Odin, "I see now that I was wise in recruiting you."

Erindis felt her face redden. He would not have said that if he had known what she had been feeling just minutes ago as Lokis knee touched hers and all reason flew from her mind.

"We must return now," Odin said, "Loki mustn't get suspicious. You will continue to observe him," he instructed her, "do everything he says. Try to find out where he goes when he is alone and not in his quarters. See if he writes anything down, in a journal. Try to get a hold of it if you can. But most importantly you must make him trust you Erindis." She nodded, although she doubted Loki could trust anyone.

"Take my hand." She did and moments later they were back on the balcony of the palace. bathed in the light of multiple moons.

"I'll go out first," Odin said to her, "good night child. We shall talk again soon."

"Good night."

Alone on the balcony Erindis shivered slightly. She wasn't sure if it was fear or the perfumed breeze that did it. She wondered what might happen to her if Loki found out she was spying on him. She could not make the mistake of confusing his charm for humility. She barely knew him! She didn't know what he was capable of, how far he would go. All she did know was that in the short time she had known him, her body had been made an antenna, poised to transmit Loki at all frequencies.

"I thought I might find you here Erindis." Sif startled her, stepping onto the balcony. "Loki has been asking where you'd gone."

"I was- I was just getting some air."

Inside the party was just hitting is peak. A few couples were dancing as the musicians played a rousing song. Erindis spotted Thor in one corner of the room now planting kisses on the neck of his female companion. Somewhere on the table his hammer lay in a bowl of whipped cream. Fandral and Volstagg were singing along with the musicians, waving goblets of wine and splashing their audience. Then her eyes found Loki. He was standing beside and talking to the most beautiful woman Erindis had ever seen. She was tall and exquisitely poised with auburn hair that ran down her back like immaculate fire. Her eyes were sapphires and her smile, as she looked Loki, made Erindis' chest ache.

"Wh-who is that?" Erindis asked Sif, trying to sound casual.

"That is Freyja," Sif said, "stunning isn't she? In some circles they even call her the Goddess of Love! Can you imagine?" Sif laughed. Erindis didn't see anything funny about it. "Her father is the Lord of Laglooon. Very important political connections there. They say Odin wants one of his sons married to her." The knot in Erindis' stomach tightened. "Thor has always tried his luck with her, never got very far. She must be the only woman ever to have ever said know to the old hammer and nail!" Sif laughed again. "But she seems to really like Loki…"

Erindis watched as Freyja tipped her head back and let out a cascade of musical laughter at something Loki had said. She brushed his chest lightly with her hand as she did so.

"Let's say hello," said Sif and before Erindis could protest she was being dragged in their direction.

Loki and Freyja turned from their conversation at the sight of the Warrior and the Apprentice.

"Ah!" said Loki, grinning at Erindis, "so you have not disappeared! Please allow me to introduce my intrepid new Apprentice to you Freyja. Erindis Mopely Erindine, this is the Lady Freyja."

Freyja nodded her magnificent head. Up close she was even more stunning, with eyelashes that defied the laws of gravity and lips like cherry pillows one could fall asleep on and dream for all eternity…

"We were just talking about the upcoming Solar Palio; the so called 'Chariot Race of the Century.'"

"_Fascinating_." Erindis had tried to sound sincere.

Freyjas' father owns the prize stallion, what did you say he was called?"

"''Runs Like the Wind, Leaves the Others in the Dust'", said Freyja.

"That's a very confident name," remarked Sif.

"It's honest. A horse has no use for false modesty," said she Freyja.

"Unlike most people," said Loki his eyes twinkling at Erindis.

Erindis sighed. He seemed positively enamoured with Freyja. _Who wouldn't be?_

"Ugh!" exclaimed Freyja haughtily, "my father is calling me." She curled her fingers along the place where Lokis neck and shoulder met, then tugged his collar playfully. "We _must_ make that walk in the Bergotte Gardens happen _this week_ Loki. I can't wait for you to tell me all about all those different plants and their poisons!" Then she squeezed his arm and whispered "sleep well," breathily. Erindis and Sif may as well not have been present.

Erindis watched her cross the room, her head held high as if she were on a balance beam, her hips swinging back and forth attractively. It was the kind of effect Erindis believed she could not achieve even if she spent a fort night studying.

"She's _lovely_," Erindis felt she should say before immediately feeling stupid for saying it.

"She has her charms," Loki said.

"I, I think I will retire now," said Erindis. She felt unable to spend another second facing him with this shredding feeling in her heart.

"Already?"

"I'm very tired," she said, "and there is so much work to do tomorrow, with the potion."

"Perhaps I will join you then."

They were silent on the way back to Lokis chambers. Her brain swam with the banquet and the Apricot juice and Bifrost Bridge and the inside of the Sphere and Odins words- "_I see now that I was wise in recruiting you_." Her stomach lurched again. She was on a mission for the good of the entire realm, so why was she feeling like a jilted schoolgirl?

"Join me for a nightcap?" Loki tempted her. He was already removing the first layer of his attire, making himself more comfortable. "I can make it taste any way you want," he added with a smile. The blue flame crackled in the fireplace and Erindis wanted nothing more than to collapse in front of it with Loki. She found herself imagining what it would feel like to have him on top her. She felt a bead of perspiration roll down her neck and into the hollow of her throat. She caught Lokis eyes trailing it.

"I think I had better not tonight."

"As you will."

"Well," she said, trying to extricate herself from his gaze, "good night." He was blocking her way to the corridor leading to her room. "Um, ex-excuse me," she said and made a ridiculous attempt to maneuver around him before he finally stepped aside.

"Good night Erindis," she heard him say after her.

That night, sleep was riddled with sweat and dreams. In the darkness Erindis promised herself she would not let Odin down, she would proceed with her mission, even if it killed her. Or worse.


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is the next chapter. Thank you again for all the lovely support, hope you enjoy :D**

**I do not own any of the Marvel characters.**

Chapter 6: Incriminating Evidence

That morning, Erindis was awoken by the sound of clashing swords from the warriors' training yard a few stories below her window. She poked her head outside and squinted to see Thor, who could not have appeared more godlike in that moment, haloed as he was by the light of dawn. He was actively handing another warrior his ass at combat. There was much grunting and "yaah"ing involved. When his opponent was spent, Erindis heard Thor call out, "NEXT!" She could see how after a while, this cockiness might become a bit grating…

She wandered into the main room to find that once again Loki had gotten ready and left the quarters before she was up. She was going to have to start waking before light if she was going to keep an eye on him as per Odins request.

She was surprised to find her days work already laid out for her at one of the stations. There was a mortar and pestle, a few measuring devices and an enormous slab of Joric Stone to be broken up and grated. Next to it were five separate containers of ingredients that needed to be ground up into a fine powder. One of them smelled like a cake bomb had exploded inside it ("Aah", thought Erindis as she sniffed, "good old Kemble bark: the vanilla extract of the sorcery world…"). There was also a note from Loki.

_Dear Apprentice,_

_I shall be out of the palace for some business today and will not be returning before sundown. This gives you a more than ample amount of time to prepare these ingredients. I trust you will not be clumsy enough to vaporize the lab in my absence and expect to find the work complete upon my return._

_-Loki _

No word on where he was going, or why. Once again Erindis felt like a bad spy. She decided to work for a bit before heading down to the banquet hall, as if that would make up somehow for her deficiencies. As chunks of Joric stone crumbled under her flattened blade she tried to picture where Loki might have gone. For all she knew he could be off realm, maybe somewhere in Svartalfheim disguised as an elf, or in Midgard, having a coffee. He could be in space, ripping a hole into another dimension, on Jotenheim conspiring with Frost Giants, or telepathically influencing some hapless Senator right here in Asgaard.

_He could be with… __**her**__._

WHAT? Was she having this _really_ having this thought right now? Was she really thinking about _Freyja_ at a time like this?

_He could be kissing her right now… in a field of lilacs outside the city…_

Was _this _really her biggest concern at the moment, with the security of the whole of Asgaard potentially hanging in the balance?

_He could be whispering into her ear, nuzzling her throat, nipping it with his teeth, gripping her waist with those elegant hands, pressing her down to the ground and ravishing her right there in the sunlight… Or worse: what if he waited until dark and brought her back __**here**__? What if Erindis would be forced to listen to the din of their lovemaking all night long, and then maybe even have to see Freyja in the morning in her negligee with her post coital hair and her arms wrapped around Loki? It. Was. Just. Too. Much. _

A chunk of Joric stone suddenly flew into Erindis' eye. She had been crushing it with escalating fury as the scene played in her head. It stung like hell. _Ow._ Then, as she was slouched over the tiled sink at one of the stations something bafflingly obvious occurred to her: what on Asgaard was she doing messing about with these ingredients when she had been given the perfect opportunity to look through Lokis private bedchamber for clues? (Following his orders, that's what! Perversely perhaps, given the situation, Erindis found she had a lot of the apt pupil still in her; she liked being given tasks to complete and doing them well.)

_What is in bloody hell is wrong with me?_ she thought as she rushed toward Lokis room. She was surprised to find no spell or even a lock on the door. Either Loki was extremely reckless, or she wasn't going to find anything of interest in there. _Not that Lokis bedroom itself was not of interest to her... _

The inside of Lokis bedchamber was just as she Erindis had imagined it. It was perfectly him: neat and dark and dripping in ominous splendour from the green silk lined walls to the enormous bed with coiled serpents carved into the posts. It smelled like him too. Erindis caught a note of that deep intoxicating scent- the one that recalled mint and lemon and forests of pine along with some indefinable, irresistible other thing. It lingered in the air like smoke after a party. She looked down at the bed. Not long ago his body had warmed it; there was still the ghost of an imprint on the duvet. She placed a palm on top of it and held it there a moment, as if to capture the residue of his presence through in her fingers. She would have rolled her eyes at herself if could have.

Looking around, there didn't appear to be any cabinets or places where Loki might conceal something. _He's not a prepubescent girl,_ thought Erindis, what had she expected? She tugged at each of the nine torches lining the walls, remembering what she learned of secret passageways from adventure books she had read as a child. Nothing. No hidden safes, no secret stashes, not even a box full of crude pictures with '_I hate Thor_' scribbled on them.

Erindis was about to leave when her eye was caught by something on the floor: a tiny puncture in the stone near the foot of the bed. It struck Erindis as odd for being almost perfectly round, as though if recently vacated by a marble. She walked over and knelt on the ground for closer inspection. She placed a finger inside and pressed down along the circumference. Then she could hooked her finger and wiggled it slightly. To her surprise the entire slab of the floor beneath it lifted up and floated up above the ground by itself. Erindis gasped as she watched it rise, gently as a feather falling in reverse, to the very top of the ceiling. For a moment nothing happened and then all of the sudden the crater it had left in the ground began to expand. It yawned, growing deeper and wider. As the stones rumbled into new positions, Erindis had to scramble to avoid falling in falling in. Finally, when the hole had filled half the floor of Lokis chamber it stopped expanding and the dust settled into place. Erindis peered inside. A steep, narrow staircase had appeared descending into pitch darkness from the lip of the hole. Erindis heart pounded as she grabbed a torch from the wall and ventured in.

She couldn't see more than a feet in front of her as she made her way down the stairs, each step echoing as she descended. Erindis had never considered herself brave. She was afraid to play dodge ball and never let her feet touch the floor of murky lakes; but she was startled by her aplomb now. Or was it simply that being around Loki made her reckless? For all she knew the floor could close up again over her at any moment, sealing her inside. Erindis found herself wondering if there even was a bottom to where she was going, whether the stairs led past every floor beneath Lokis room and even the very foundations of the palace. She pictured a place filled with skulls and perhaps the crumbling cotton clad mummies of Apprentices past. They'd still clutching their note books. _That's what we get for craving an education. _

Erindis shivered as she finally reached the end of the steps. She guessed she was below ground now. She had come to a door inscribed in runes she could not decipher. There was a doorknob and Erindis felt blood coursing in her ears as she turned the handle.

She found herself in a tiny room. It was colder than any place in the palace and bathed in an eerie blue light. At its centre was a block of stone with box perched on top of it which had the same blue light seeping from its edges. Erindis recalled at this moment, for reasons beyond her, a story her mother had told her when she was a child. It had been passed down from the third period of Midguard and told of a young woman named Pandora who was given a box by the gods and told never open it. One day curiosity got the better of her and she opened the box. As she did, all of the evil of the world, which had been contained in it, was freed and it spread over the world. Pandora had not been punished, because Zeus, King of the Gods, regarded her crime as inevitable. Erindis couldn't help wondering if she would not be as lucky in this as she lifted the lid with her of the box. It was so cold it almost _burned_. It was unlike any metal she had ever felt. Inside was a miniature cube, glowing with all the force of a blue star. Erindis had never seen anything like it, but something told her that whatever it was, it was not of this realm.

Suddenly she heard a loud crash echo from the top of the stairs. The stones were moving and rumbling again. Erindis slammed down lid of the box, leaving it there. She flung the door of the room open and bolted up the stars. Above she could hear the crack in the floor grinding closer and closer. She raced up the steps as the shrinking hole came into view. Erindis leapt over the last steps and squeezed through the crack, narrowly escaping with her heels in tact. As she caught her breath she looked down to see that the floor and Lokis chamber looked just as before Not a stone was disturbed; only _she_ looked worse for wear.

_What was that thing_? A magical orb? Some sort of weapon? She had to find out and she had to find Odin and tell him about it.

_How does one locate the King of Asgaard?_

The palace compound was HUGE and Odin could be anywhere. Erindis spent the whole of the mid morning bolting through magnificent halls and staterooms like a lost comet. Some of the passing courtiers looked at her funnily. At last came upon the familiar faces of Thor, Sif, Hogun, Volstaag and Fandral as they walked through a corridor from the courtyard. Sweaty and clutching their sheathed weapons, Erindis could tell they had just come from combat practice.

"Erindis! What an unexpected pleasure," purred Thor as he spotted her, "has my brother let you out of his dungeon at last? You must take advantage of your freedom and join us tonight by the creek for drinks and a firework display." He grinned at her in a way that made Erindis suspect that the firework display might very well alight from his trousers.

"Please, I was wondering if you could help me," Erindis said, "I need to see your Father."

"My Father?" asked Thor, his formidable brow now knit with confusion. At once Erindis realized her folly. She hadn't considered how odd her request sounded. Nobody else knew she was spying for Odin, to them she was just an Apprentice. What reason could she have for seeking an audience with the All Father? Odin said wanted her to be discreet. He would contact her on his own accord when he wished to see her. Erindis felt very foolish that she had been running around the palace like this. She couldn't afford to be reckless with her cover.

"I want to… thank him," Erindis back peddled, "for- for all his kindness in giving me this opportunity… I'm having the most wonderful time apprenticing with Loki!"

Sif raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure he knows you're grateful," said Thor, now adopting a tone Erindis imagined he used on vapid, star struck girls, "he's probably in council right now. Very busy, you know."

"O," said Erindis dumbly, "of course! Well, I guess I won't bother him then. Back to the lab I go!" She turned to leave, scarlet as a tomato, when she stopped and remembered, "Would any of you by any chance happen to know where Loki went today?" She tried to sound disinterested.

"I don't know," said Thor and then the subtlest of shadows crossed his face, "skiing in the mountains with Freyja, I'd imagine, he was wearing his winter cape when I saw him leave breakfast this morning."

Erindis' heart plummeted to her stomach. "O. Um, thank you."

"No problem at all. Come by the creek tonight if you can, we'll all be there."

"It'll be quite the revel!" enthused Fandral.

"I'm not sure yet, but thank you for the invitation," said Erindis, trying not to seem crestfallen.

Back in Lokis quarters Erindis tried to get the afternoons events temporarily out of her mind as she worked on readying the ingredients for Lokis potion. She was under extreme time constraints now and dreaded the idea of presenting Loki with unfinished or sloppy work. She had already given herself a nasty cut on the top of her hand with an errant shard of Kapis stone, and still pounded away at it with all the speed and violence of a woman without a future. She was both hungry and nauseous at once and feared that if she stopped working, even for a moment, her body might give up and collapse and wouldn't be found til Loki and Freyja spotted it littering the floor during their nightcap. _No thinking allowed. Just work. Just crushing and pounding and sifting. _

When she had finally finished, the call to dinner had long sounded and revellers could be heard spilling into the gardens outside. The sun had set and still no sign of Loki. But then, given whom he was with, _why would he hurry back?_

Erindis rubbed her temples. She had more important things to consider, like that glowing blue thing lying under his bedchamber. Whatever it was Loki wanted it secret, which meant it was more than likely connected to some plot he was working on. She sighed, she wished Odin would hurry up and summon her.

Not wanting to spend another second sitting ruminating alone in Lokis quarters, Erindis decided to go down to the creek after all. She put on an old cream coloured dress with short sleeves and a fitted bodice, examined herself in the mirror and decided she looked about a solid quarter as decent as the ladies of court.

The air in the Palace gardens that night was fragrant and inviting. Fireflies danced around the torches, and strumming music and laughter sounded from the bottom of the sloping hill. Beneath the swaying tops of ancient trees, hundreds of miniature boats with candles floated along the surface of the creek. Happy, chattering people were gathered along its banks, a few sat with their calves dipped in the water, many lay on the grass. Some heads were planted in laps. From her vantage point Erindis saw Thor wrestling with Fandral in the water. He laughed and waved his formidable arms about like a sea monster. Volstagg and Siff sat along the banks cheering. Only Hogun looked serious and silent. Erindis smiled as she set out for them a little nervously.

"Have a tart!" Volstaag commanded before she had even greeted them.

"Erindis! You came!" said Sif exuberantly.

"I-'' began Erindis will her mouth full of pastry, "couldn't resist!"

"Fandral bet Thor five casks of Bromalian Brandy he couldn't beat him at four consecutive rounds in the water," Sif informed her as they surveyed the splashing warriors.

Suddenly Thor lifted his drenched head from his opponent and saw Erindis who nodded in greeting. For a moment his concentration was broken and it was all Fandral needed to get the better of him.

_SPLASH!_

The God of Thunder tripped backwards in the water sending out a tremendous spew all over the spectators.

"That was only three rounds!" cried Fandral triumphantly, "I WIN!" Erindis, Sif, Hogun and Volstagg, by now enthusiastically drenched, applauded.

"You are a danger to warriors," Thor told her later as they reclined on the grass along the edge of the creek. "You should be brought along in battles and used as a secret weapon." Erindis blushed and laughed shyly, she knew it was the kind of thing Thor said to all women, but all the same it flattered her. And _what battles would these be? _A more discerning voice at the back of her mind inquired.

"You may laugh," said Fandral, "but you should see the way her opponents stop and stare when they first see Sif coming their way. They don't know whether laugh or cry."

"Usually, they cry," said Sif.

A firework crackled overhead. Soon the sky burst into a blaze of colours and shapes. Erindis, at one point, thought she could made out the semblance of Thor and his hammer ignite in the sky. _Well that's a bit much,_ she thought.

She didn't know how she had ended up swimming the length of the creek with Thor and the other Warriors but she was grateful she did. The water was clear and warm and her head buzzed the way it had yesterday night from her Apricot juice alcohol. The trees whistled in the wind and their way was illuminated by the bobbing boat candles. "You Warriors really know how to live," she told her companions as she splayed her body and floated over the surface. And it was true. It took talent to be happy, to be carefree, to be harmony with the world... For a briefest of moments this talent, which had eluded Erindis since her mother died, seemed to be transferred onto her from her new friends. For the briefest of moments, Erindis forgot why she was here; she forgot everything that had happened to her that day. She forget who she was. Yes, for the briefest of moments, she even forgot Loki. As the water lapped at her ears, _nothing_ could steal her joy…

Then, suddenly her eyes lighted on a black clad figure standing at the top of the hill above the banks of the creek. His arms were folded and his magnificent pale face fixed on her.

It was him.

Loki watched his Apprentice trudge up the slope. She was barefoot and dripping from head to toe. Her dress clung to her body obscenely, patches of flesh visible through the sheer, wet fabric. She was flushed, smiling broadly, tossing her soaking hair back and forth. Face wet, _lips_ wet, drops caught in the thick net of her lashes… She had mud on her dress and on one cheek. Seeing her like this sent something akin to a shock wave through Loki. He felt himself stiffen, immedietly, unmistakenly in the crotch of his pants.

"You're wet," was all this silver tongued genius could say.

"I've been in the creek," reported Erindis.

"So I gathered."

"I didn't know when you'd be back," she began apologetically, "I wasn't sure if you wanted me to wait for you or-"

"Have you finished your work?" he asked with a hint of ice. Erindis looked as if she had been slapped. It was a look that made Loki instantly sorry.

"_Of course_," she said defensively.

"Then why should it matter to me where you go?" Loki couldn't stop himself from being cruel right now. It was just too much to have to contend with; her standing there, _looking like that._

For a moment Erindis seemed like she was about to cry and then her face hardened. "Ok. I'm going go to bed now. Good night."

"I'll go back with you."

Erindis looked surprised and alarmed by this, as though the proximity of him was a threat to her person. "A-all right, I'll just say goodnight to the Warriors first." Loki sighed impatiently as she ran back down the hill.

Something inside him churned as he watched her make her farewells. There was a longing feeling, a constriction in his chest (as well as his in trousers). She bolted from friend to friend, her eyes bright and her smile blissfully wild. At one point she stumbled over a branch and almost fell and something in him had jumped. He felt an urge to go to her, examine her, _attend to her_; as if her wellbeing had some precedence to him in his life. He frowned. This was _odd. _He even felt a pang when his brother, rising like a Kraken from the depths of the creek, placed kisses her hand _and her cheek. _Loki noticed, as she was running up the hill back to him, a momentary shadow pass over Erindis' features, he could tell she was regretting that she'd him wait. She gave him a nervous smile, this sodden girl and in that moment his conscience exploded. Who was she,this Erindis Erindine and why did her face she tug at his soul? How was it that this single, fragile human, hurtling towards him suddenly appeared to have the whole of the universe distilled inside her? It was disturbing to say the least.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes, thanks for waiting."

They were silent as they walked through the gardens of the Palace compound. Erindis became increasingly aware of her exposed body and shivered in the cooling night air.

"Here," said Loki, as he whipped off his cape in one swoop and draped it over. If he had offered it first, she would have declined and he would have insisted and she would have declined until they had already reached the palace.

"Thank you," said Erindis, clutching the garment over her chest. It was unspeakably warm and it smelt of him. She hoped he didn't notice her sniffing too hard. As they reached the grand steps of the palace Erindis was desperate to break the uncomfortable silence between them. She hated when people chattered for the sake of chattering but she couldn't think of anything she wanted to ask him that she necessarily wanted to hear the answer to.

"Did you have a nice time with Lady Freyja today?" she feared her voice might crack at the name.

"Freyja?" said Loki, confused.

"Yes, Thor mentioned that you were out with her today," said Erindis is her best bad impression of apathy.

"I wasn't with Freyja today."

_O JOY! Happiness! Bell chimes! Trumpets! A choir of Angels!_

"I'm seeing her on Wednesday."

_O. _

When they were back inside his quarters Loki gave Erindis a robe to wear. He rubbed her shoulders as he noticed that her lips had begun to quiver. His hands were warm and insistent. Erindis fought the urge to fall into his chest. She wondered what he would think if he had known she had been inside his secret underground chamber that morning. She found herself simultaneously wondering whether or not he'd kill her if he found out and considering his neck; wanting to cover it with kisses. This struck Erindis as a complicated dichotomy of thought. Why did she have to be smitten with Loki? If she had to feel this way, why couldn't she like Thor? Durable, dependable, he-man Thor, who she'd never have to worry might hex her or poison her or turn her into a caterpillar. Who wasn't off skiing with Freyja-

WAIT A MOMENT.

Skiing with Freyja: Loki hadn't been. And yet Thor had said he'd seen him _in his winter cloak… _Where was it cold this time of year if not the mountains?

Jotenheim, that's where, the land of the Frost Giants. Erindis suddenly felt ill. She removed herself from the clutch of Lokis hands. Looking up at his perplexed green eyes she felt her blood run cold. He had been in Jotenheim that day. He had plotted with Frost Giants. It was the only explanation…

"What's the matter?" Loki asked her.

"N-nothing," Erindis sputtered, "I'm just very tired. I have to go to bed now. I'll see in the morning. Sleep well." She didn't even wait for him to respond before disappearing into the corridor.

Her behaviour was beginning to confound Loki. One second her mouth was watering at the sight of him, the next second she looked at him like he was a ghost. He suddenly felt a pang of envy as he remembered how she had been with his brother and his friends. She was free and easy with Thor while she was cautious and cagey with him. _Just like his father._

As he lay in bed that night, Loki could not stop remembering the swell of her breasts in that wet bodice. He couldn't forget the look in her eyes, it was the quintessence of life!

He was so wrapped up in thoughts of her that he had almost forgotten to check the surveillance footage from his room that day.

Loki sighed as he touched his finger over the eyeball of one of the snakes carved into his bedpost. He felt he couldn't be too careful, what with the amount of interest generated by his magic these days (which was only compounded by how secretive he was) and so had long ago installed a surveillance device in his bedroom. As he sat back, the room was filled with a holographic account of everything that had occurred within its walls that day. Loki waved his hand to fasten forward until he came upon the record of Erindis. He watched as she looked around and placed a hand breathlessly over his bedcover. He watched as she unearthed the hole in the ground, as the floor collapsed under her, as she descended down the secret stairs. He watched as she found the small room at the bottom, as she opened the box and peered at the artefact inside. He watched as she raced back up the steps in terror.

He watched all this and at the end, as he waved his hand and disappeared the hologram, his lips curved into a smile.

_She has done perfectly._

The scene had played out exactly as Loki had hoped it would. He fell asleep with the smile still on his lips, secure in the knowledge that his plan, and his pawn, were going to work out just fine…


	7. Chapter 7

**Here is the next chapter. Thanks for all the encouragement and to anyone reading my story :D Hope you enjoy. **

**I do not own any characters from Marvel.**

Chapter 7: Blue and Bright as Ever

"You have been very quiet all afternoon," Loki observed after many choked hours together in the lab the next day

"Just concentrating," said Erindis, teasing a drop of Bektris Trialmonide solution onto a teaspoon of Joric Stone and watching the mini apocalypse unfold in her petri dish. Her hand twitched slightly.

"If you need to concentrate that hard while amalgamating base compounds, then you are in more serious trouble than I thought," Loki said as he watched a rogue strand of her hair fall into the Petri dish. He came around her stealthily and tucked it behind her ear, his finger tracing an impertinent circle down her earlobe as he did. He sensed her breath catch and her body tense up in front of him. He remained standing behind her and leaned in close to her neck, ostensibly to watch the progress inside the Petri dish. At this vantage point he could have counted the number of goose bumps on her flesh. "That seems to be working very well," he murmured. "You have the golden touch."

Erindis damned herself for feeling a swell of pride as she heard this. She was beginning to get the sense that Loki regarded sorcery as more of an art than a science.

"Most people forget what a tactile thing it is, preparing a potion," remarked Loki as he began circling around the table. "It bears not only the herbs and sediments inside it, but the essential quality of the person, or _persons,_ who made it. What their mood was like as they worked on it, the things they thought about, the temperature of their bodies: it all bears an unmistakable signature on the finished product. Nothing, not even flesh, is more suggestible than a potion."

Erindis was not sure anymore when Loki was teasing her and when he was imparting a lesson. She was beginning to suspect they were one and the same.

"So if I was, say, _horribly tired from scrubbing the floor all night before_ as I chopped the hibiscus leaves for this potion, you might end up teleporting into the wrong dimension?"

Loki flashed her a scorching grin. "No. Not as such, the inherent properties of the potion would not change. But I might experience your hand in other ways… I might for example have the peculiar sensation of being… _filled with you _as I tasted it."

Erindis dropped a glass vial and heard it smash onto the floor.

"I'm sorry," she cried automatically as she fell to her knees to gather the shards.

"Not necessary!" cried Loki as he waved his hand and vanished all the glass from the floor. "O, but you're already bleeding," he said eyeing the number of small cuts on her hand.

"It's nothing," said Erindis, but before she could withdraw he caught her wrist in his hand.

"Please," he said in a voice so gentle her heart nearly shattered. She allowed him to lead her wordlessly to the sink. She allowed him to wash and dress the wound, dabbing alcohol on her fingers with a care that bordered on (_could it be!_) tenderness. She allowed him, when he was finished, to he still hold her hand. A delectable warmth rippled from the place where there had been, so recently, pain. He tugged playfully at each finger. Erindis had learned, of late, that no bodily appendage was too minor to act as the gateway to pleasure. Now his touch sent it coursing like venom through her entire body. She closed her eyes and sighed_, _if only her hand could always live in his… Then Loki did the unthinkable, he brought the tips of her fingers to his lips and immedietly acquainted Erindis with the true meaning of the world '_threshold_'. Her eyes flew open to see his own watching her, _watching his effect on her_…

"What are you doing?" she demanded, stunned to find her faculties of speech still in tact.

"I was blowing on the alcohol on your fingers. Didn't you feel it stinging?"

No. No she hadn't.

"O that's right!" laughed Loki, "I forgot that I can psychicly ease the pain of others in rare cases. Looks like you are one of those rare cases, go figure." He set her hand on the table. "Better?"

_No._ "Yes, much better, thank you."

Then another smile traced Lokis' lips. "What did you think I was doing?" he asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

O how Loki LOVED teasing this woman! And yet tease Erindis as he might, something inside him confirmed he would rather _die_ than see her truly suffer. _How extraordinary_… He had known her for such a short time and yet now every minute he was away from her was spent rigorously assembling her image in his mind. He tried not to think about her but found this 'trying' to be as useless as pants on a paramecium. It was wrong. He wasn't supposed to feel this way. Not about anyone, least of all her. She was supposed to be an annoyance. He was supposed to recoil at the sight of her. Instead he loved the sight of her. He loved the sound of her. He loved the inhale and exhale of her. He loved her in his rooms. He loved her touching his instruments. He loved her eyes watching him when she thought he wasn't looking. Yes, he made her flustered. Yes, she was obviously in the throes of some sort of girlish crush on him, but he couldn't allow himself to wonder, even for second, whether her feelings were deeper than that. However attracted she was, surely it couldn't change how she must have felt about him: that he was a dangerous traitor, incapable and unworthy of love. _If only she was right in presuming that! _It would have made things so much simpler. It would have made his plan so much easier to execute… Erindis was a spy; an enemy in his midst, a mongoose set on a snake. He could not afford to let his feelings distract him or prevent him from using her to the fullest extent…

"What did you think I was doing just now?" he repeated.

Erindis' cheeks flamed, she felt herself melting under Lokis' stare. "I don't know."

"Do you think that I would take advantage of my position as your teacher in order toseduce you?"

Erindis didn't know what to say, "N-no, I-I-"

"Do you think," he began dangerously, "that I would lower myself, in my position as a Prince of the Realm; that I would abuse the Academic Councils' faith in me; that I would defile even the standards of my own taste, in order to make love to you?"

The words felt like daggers in Erindis' stomach. She felt sick.

"Well?" Loki demanded.

"N-no, of course not, I didn't mean…"

_Then you are a fool for not knowing that the answer is YES!_ Thought Loki, _YES! YES! YES! A million times YES! _Watching Erindis try to mask her agony at his words made Loki feel as though his heart was cracked and bleeding from the inside. But it had to be done. It had to endured.

"Good," he said cruelly. Suddenly the dinner bell sounded. 

All through banquet Erindis wished she could disappear. Drinks flowed and people chattered but she just sat there attempting to convert her funeral face into a bland smile.

"Are you ok?" asked Sif, "you seem like something's bothering you."

"O I'm fine," she said in a way that was meant to sound chipper but came out like she'd taken in too much helium at a childrens party, "just a hard day of work that's all…"

Sif could see right through her, "all right. But you know you can always talk to me about anything, right Mopely?"

Erindis smiled at the moniker, "thanks Sif."

She had been spending so much time with Loki she was beginning to forget there were actual nice people in the world. She was also adopting some of his habits, like listening in on other peoples' conversations:

"No, no Ermir, the Frost relics are well guarded," one elder Statesmen was assuring another one a few seats away from her at the table, "I was down in the vault with them myself the other day, it could not have been more secure."

"But _there are rumours_," whispered the other man.

"O there are always rumours! If the Frost Giants come to take back the Relic, the Destroyer will do just that 'DESTROY' them."

"You are say all the relics are still there?"

"O yes! Shining bright and blue as ever! We are safe. Honestly Ermir, you are such a worrywart sometimes!"

_Bright and blue..._

It suddenly dawned on Erindis what the object in Lokis secret chamber was: a Frost Giant Relic. But it wasn't one of Odins'. How had it gotten there. _Could he have stolen it himself from Jotenheim?_

Odin could not have picked a more perfect time to tap her on the shoulder.

"Erindis would you join me on the balcony this fine evening? I know how you love those hedychiums."

"I LIVE FOR HEDYCHIUMS Sir."

Once they had teleported inside the magnificent gold sphere of the Bifrost, Erindis regaled Odin of all she had witnessed over the past two days. 

Odin furrowed his white brows and didn't say anything for a long time, taking in everything she had told him.

Heimdall was there too and remained stonily silent. Then the amber-eyed gatekeeper of the Bifrost turned to Odin. "How could Loki have gotten past me?" he asked in a rumbling voice.

Odin frowned as he considered. "My son is extremely cunning Heimdall. I do not doubt that he has devised a way into Jotenheim…"

"The potion!" cried Erindis. Suddenly it was clear. "The Sulphur-climide-orellian potion, I think he's been taking it. He's brewing a new batch of it now. I prepared the ingredients for it myself." It felt strange to say that, to directly implicate herself in Lokis designs. "It's supposed to allow for highly skilled sorcerers to be able to teleport over massive distances; he wouldn't have needed to use the Bifrost at all..."

Odin looked grave. "And you think this artefact in his chambers is a stolen Relic from the Frost Giants?" he asked Erindis.

Erindis couldn't be sure, but it seemed the likeliest answer. "I think so Sir."

"And you say you think he was in Jotenheim again yesterday?"

"Yes."

"O! He is a dangerously impetuous boy!" bellowed Odin.

Erindis sighed in frustration. Something didn't feel right in her head, something didn't add up. "But why would Loki risk returning to Jotenheim after he had already stolen a Relic?

"Perhaps they have not discovered that it has been stolen yet," offered Heimdall.

"If I go to the Frost Giants first and tell them of this subterfuge," said Odin, pacing now, "perhaps, we can avoid any armed conflict".

_Armed conflict? _"Y-you don't think the Frost Giants would attack Asgaard?" Erindis asked incredulously, "surely they know they would not stand a chance… _You, yourself_ took away all the relics that held their power, how could they hope to even _enter_ Asgaard?"

"I took their Relics, yes," said Odin, "but that was a long time ago. I did not know any other such weapons existed, and now it appears my son has smuggled one of them out of Jotenheim… Who knows how many there are still left. I have underestimated Loafey as one should never underestimate a sleeping foe…"

_Relics, Frost Giants, the threat of WAR…_ the whole thing seemed downright apocalyptic to Erindis. Then an even darker idea crossed her mind, something she was reluctant to share with Odin. What if Loki was working _with _the Frost Giants? What if he was feeding them secrets and access to Asgaard in exchange for Relics of power? Could the man she loved (however reluctantly) be capable of such a thing?

"Why would the Frost Giants want to attack Asgaard when they know what it would cost them?" Erindis reasoned. "Jotenheim has already lost so much, why would King Loafey risk his Kingdom-"

"To hurt me," said the All Father ominously. "Leave us now Heimdall," he told his the Gatekeeper. Heimdall nodded and dissappeared out of the sphere. Odin regarded Erindis for a long minute. He was pale as a sheet and looked, for the first time since Erindis had known him, like a man of his years.

"I have been a poor Father, Erindis. I have indulged my elder son and alienated my youngest." Odin looked so sad when he said this, like a grandfather who sits on a couch alone and sighs for decade. Erindis' heart suddenly swelled with pity for the man who presided over the whole of the known Universe.

"It's not your fault Sir," she offered.

"It is," he said matter of factly and then gave her the faintest of smiles for her efforts, "it is kind of you to say otherwise my Dear... But I do not deserve kindness, nor do I deserve understanding or justification for what I did. And I'm sure you will not offer it once you hear what I have to tell you."

Erindis was confused.

"Dear Girl," he began, "I have a secret. It is a secret only my wife Frigga and I know. A secret I had hoped would one day be interred with our bones."

Erindis felt the hairs at the back of her neck rise.

"Can I trust you to keep my terrible secret?

"Yes."

"Good. It concerns Loki."

She gulped.

"Years ago, after the final battle with the Frost Giants in Jotenheim, as our army was laying waste to the city- you don't know what it's like Erindis: men _after centuries of war_… burning, pillaging, _horrors- _I wandered into a temple and found a baby swathed in royal garments, lying on the alter. I shall never forget my first sight of him; he looked so tiny for a Frost Giant, and so maddeningly _innocent._ I knew at once whose child it was: Loafeys'. There had been rumours that his wife had recently borne him a _deficient _son, so small that it was deemed a humiliation to have him seen by others. I decided to take this baby back with me to Asgaard and raise him as my own alongside Thor. I had harboured hopes that one day this child could be used to unite the Kingdoms of Asgaard and Jotenheim, but these plans fell by the way side as we came to love Loki as though he truly was our flesh and blood."

Erindis was stunned. "L-Loki is a, a-"

"Frost Giant." said Odin for her.

"Does he know?"

"No, no he does not know. And yet I fear… I fear he has always sensed something _crooked_ in his upbringing; sensed himself to be different from others- or perhaps, merely different from me," Odin added sadly. "I admit I haven't always been as keen to understand him as I should have. It always made me uneasy, his leaning toward the dark arts. Thor I recognized as myself at that age: brash, cocky and foolish. Loki was different. Even as a child he was frighteningly intelligent and secretive. I didn't recognize any part of myself in him. Perhaps I treated him a little differently from Thor as a result. Perhaps I feared, in the some irrational burrow of my mind, that there might be some evil kernel of _Loafey_ deep down in him.How monstrous! How selfish of me…" Odin bit back his grief. "I'm sorry to burden you with this my dear. You asked me why I thought Loafey might risk his Kingdom to hurt me now. The answer is simple: I stole a son from him. Yes, a lame son in his eyes, but _still _his son. "

Erindis didn't know what to say. She imagined Loki as a tiny bundle tucked under Odins' arm, pilfered from Jotenheim and raised with the utmost _caution _(what a cruel word) to believe he was that which he wasn't. At this moment only one thing seemed to matter. Only one question, in this whole mess of secrets and deceit, seemed worth asking:

"Do you love him?" she asked Odin.

"What?"

"Do you love your son?"

"Of course I do!" said Odin fiercely.

_So do I, _she wanted to say, _that is what makes us equals in this task. _But she didn't. "Then he must be stopped." 


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you again and again for the lovely reviews. And thanks for reading my story! Hope you enjoy chapter 8 :D **

**I own none of the marvel characters.**

Chapter 8: Steam

Back at the Palace it was almost midnight. Everything in it that had once filled Erindis with awe: the Banquet Hall, the tiered gardens, the magisterial staircases, the frescoes, the vast rooms and the splendid peacock people that inhabited them; now seemed to her to be as hollow as set pieces. She watched the progress of the evenings' merriment with strange detachment. Couples danced and friends embraced each other. There was boasting and toasting and kissing in the shadows. The air was thick with champagne laughter. Yet the euphoria that had been so contagious the night before now bypassed Erindis as if she were a phantom. All she could do was think about Loki. What had he done? What was he doing? What would hedo_ if he ever found out who he really was?_ Frost Giants were the monsters in fairytales; the bogeymen invoked to scare naughty children. And here she was in love with one. Life was a miracle…

_Speaking of miracles…_ thought Erindis as Freyja and her reality defying neck swanned into view. She was hanging on the arm of a deliriously grateful Fandral while clearly scanning the room for Loki. She wore a purple dress with a brocade of complicated gold embroidery; _royalty _thought Erindis, _always so pleased with itself. _But god she was beautiful… It was the kind of terrible beauty that confirmed the ugliness of all others. It was a beauty that lived in certainty of no rivals. A beauty that, Erindis sensed, allowed her a different standard of conduct; for who ever said 'no'to _that_?

"Where is Loki?" Erindis finally heard Freyja ask Fandral. Fandral looked around.

"I have no idea my Lady," he said, clearly not wanting to let down such a ravishing creature. His eyes lit up when he spotted Erindis, "Ah! Perhaps Erindis will know! How now Erindis? You wouldn't happen to know where Loki went by any chance?"

Freyja looked haughty and confused. "Why would Erika know where Loki is? They are not here _together_," she said.

"Well, yes, but still, I wondered if-"

"I haven't a clue," said Erindis dryly.

Freyja suddenly let out a trill of her musical laughter, "O it is so like Loki to disappear like this!" she cried. "He's probably planning some trick!" Then her eyes widened with alarm, "I hope it doesn't involve insects. I never told him how much they frighten me…"

_O he's planning a trick all right _thought Erindis._ He wants to start a war…_

Fandral, clearly wanting to feed Freyjas' good humour, quipped "the best was on last New Years Eve when he wrote that message in the fireworks display!" He cackled like a fiend. Freyja didn't find it as funny as he'd hoped.

"If you see him Erika," Freyja instructed Erindis, as though it were a matter of the gravest importance in the Kingdom, "tell him I am looking for him."

"Will do."

Erindis wanted nothing more than bed and a brief release from her troubles as she hurried down the corridor to Lokis' chambers. She wondered what Odin was planning to do, whether he would go himself to Jotenheim to tell them of Lokis' theft and try to broker a peace with the Frost Giants. Something in her gut told her that this was the wrong thing, that there were more layers to this whole mess, something they had overlooked… But her gut wasn't the king of Asgaard (thank fully for her).

"Going to bed so soon?" Erindis turned to corner to see Loki. "I was just heading back to the banquet myself," he said, grinning like a cat.

"Freyja's looking for you," Erindis blurted out.

Lokis' eyes glittered, "Is she?"

"Best not keep a woman like that waiting," said Erindis bitterly.

"No indeed. Thank you for telling me." But he didn't move and they just continued staring at each other in the torch lit hallway.

"Well, good night Sir."

"Good night Erindis." Then as they were walking back in opposite directions, she heard him call out, "Don't wait up!"

The next morning Loki had left another note to say that he was gone for the day but no instructions on work for her to do. Nothing. Zilch. Odin had warned Erindis the last time they met that she wasn't to do any more sleuthing in Lokis quarters, at least until he had decided what to do about the Frost Giants. With no mixing or scrubbing to complete, Erindis read from Lokis' library for a while before reluctantly, setting off for a very late breakfast.

There were few people lingering in the Banquet hall when Erindis arrived. She had brought along, '_Mental Machinery: Telekinesis in the Fifth Age'_ and settled down to read when she heard a voice.

"I heard you were a free agent today Mopely." Erindis turned to see Sif sliding into the chair next to her. Her swords rattled at her side.

"Where did you hear that?"

"The walls have ears…" said Sif in mock intrigue. "You have to come to the Palace baths with me today. I've seen you moping around lately and I think only a good hour in the steam room will sort you out."

"I don't know…" said Erindis. She felt guilty doing anything not strictly related to her mission even though she liked Sif very much and relished the idea of a few hours to get her mind off Loki. She had never been but had heard all about the famed 'Royal Baths' from friends back home.

"Come on! Please! The men are always going together and I never have anybody to go with." Erindis remembered that the baths were segregated by gender. Her warrior friend looked at her so hopefully that she didn't have the heart to refuse.

"O all right."

"You are going to love it! I discovered the steam rooms last year when I busted my lower trochantor whipping Volstaags ass in combat practice. It was the only thing that made it feel better. These days I go just to unwind."

The Palatial Baths Complex was a marvel to behold: sixty five rooms all featuring some variation of replenishment through water. There were pools the size of valleys and bubble baths the size of pools; water that was hot, cold, lukewarm, perfumed, salty, drinkable, vitamin enriched, filled with some sort of violet goo that was supposed to make the skin softer… the choices were endless. Everywhere there were ladies clutching towels, and in some cases champagne glasses, scurrying to their next appointment. The steam room Sif had talked about struck Erindis as more of a steam temple. It had improbably high vaulted ceilings bolstered by marble columns inlaid with gold. When Erindis walked in, part of her thought, "_what fresh Neoclassical hell is this?_" while another part thought, "_Oooooo._" Then Sif walked over to a panel on the wall and pushed a button and enormous plumes of steam began rising from floor. Soon it obscured everything. Sif sat back on a bench opposite Erindis, her smiling head floating like an island in the mist. "Isn't this wonderful?"

"Yes." The steam felt lovely. Erindis closed her eyes and let it invade her pores, sighing out the events of the last few days. She imagined little curls of steam cleaning her body from the inside as she attempted to coax every limb and muscle to relax. She tried to think of nothing, and when that didn't work, she tried to think about anything but Loki. In this too she failed. She realized, to her despair, that he couldn't be sweated out.

"You look very tense," observed Sif from across the room, "what's bothering you Mopely?"

The intense heat of the room and the relentless shoots of steam only amplified her stress. Now, with her eyes full of fog and her head full of Loki, something in Erindis threatened to snap. She was, with no warning, on the verge of tears. "Nothing," she said in a cracked voice, "absolutely nothing." But it cost too much to maintain this façade minute after minute, hour after hour. The lying, the paranoia, and now the thought of war with the Frost Giants: she could have bourn it all happily in silence. But it was _that other thing_ that threatened to break her, _that other thing_ that colonized her mind and pushed her to the limits of control… Erindis felt herself sob and embarrassingly tried to cover it up with a snorting noise.

"O my dear…" said Sif as she crossed the floor to sit beside her. She put her arm around Erindis and it was this tiny kindness that sent her over the edge as she collapsed in tears.

"What is the matter?" asked Sif gently, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," sobbed Erindis.

"You're crying."

"I'm not-" sob "cry-" sob "-ing! It's the steam!"

"You can tell me Erindis, you know you can tell me anything." Erindis looked into Sifs kind eyes and felt the violence of her sobs subside.

"How silly I'm being," she said.

"It's ok. We all have our silly moments." Erindis could hardly imagine the brave, beautiful Lady Sif having a silly moment. "I had myself a silly moment right here when Thor and I-" Erindis' eyes widened. "O _yes_," said Sif.

"Did you love him?" asked Erindis.

"I suppose must have."

"And did it rip a hole inside you?" she asked dramatically.

Sif laughed gently. "Who's ripping a hole inside you Erindis?" she asked with interest.

Erindis blood surged in her ears. "I can't…"

"Come on, you can trust me, I won't tell anyone. Is that what's bothering you? It might help to talk about it."

Erindis didn't know if she could bring herself to say it. "Have you ever had… _inappropriate_ feelings for someone?"

"You mean like a monk or a first cousin?" Erindis laughed, grateful to Sif for putting her at ease.

"Someone you knew you shouldn't feel that way about, someone you know can't love back… And even apart from that you just know that it's wrong, for so many different reasons!"

"Sure I have. You don't necessarily _choose_ who you're attracted to. _Believe me,_" she said leaning in close, "_I went through a Volstaag phase_." Erindis laughed again. "Don't tell him that!" said Sif.

"I know you can't choose," said Erindis, "and at first I thought it was a mindless infatuation… I thought that I would be able to get over it…"

"Don't knock infatuation," said Sif smiling.

"I think, that- that" Erindis felt tears roll down her cheeks again as she whispered, "I'm in love with him."

"In love with whom?"

"Loki!" said Erindis as if it had been the most obvious thing in the world, "I'm in love with Loki." Saying it out loud made it more real and thus more terrifying. It felt weighty. Certain. Like an ancient rune carved on an obelisk, undaunted by rain or wind or time. "I love Loki," she said a third time, and it was no less startling.

"Loki?" said Sif disbelievingly.

"And I know I shouldn't be!" said Erindis, unable to stop her own mouth now, "I know that he's a Prince and I know that he's bad and I know that he despises me and I know-"

"You think Loki despises you?"

"O YES!" cried Erindis vehemently, "he can't stand the sight of me! He never wanted an apprentice, I'm just a nuisance!"

"I don't know about that…"

Lokis' words echoed in her head now as they had since he had first uttered them; '_Do you think that I would lower myself, in my position as a Prince of the Realm; that I would abuse the Academic Councils' faith in me; that I would defile even the standards of my own taste, in order to make love to you?'_ Nothing, no knife, no stone, no spell had ever cut Erindis more deeply. She couldn't even repeat them to Sif. "Trust me, _I know,_" she said. "And besides that, he is obviously smitten with Lady Freyja."

"Lady Freyja?" snorted Sif, "But she's nothing more than a painted trollop!" Erindis could have kissed her friend for this boorish display of solidarity. But she knew Sif was only trying to make her feel better.

"You told me yourself Odin hoped they might marry."

"Odin has a great many bizarre ideas. Have you ever actually sat down and tried to have a conversation with Freyja?"

"Why would he need to spend time conversing with her? You've seen men around her, their chemistry changes when she walks into the room! It's like they're enslaved!" Erindis knew she sounded like a jealous cow, but she couldn't help it. Spas, it appeared, brought out the worst in her.

Sif raised an eyebrow. "You claim to be in love with Loki," she said, "and yet you think him so shallow that he would fall prey that easily to Freyjas' charms."

Erindas hadn't thought of it like that. "He was talking to her," she protested meekly, "a lot."

"And he talks to you," said Sif, "a lot."

"Yes but-"

"But what? Because he talks to Freyja it means he can never love you? Have you ever considered that he's trying to make you jealous!" demanded Sif, becoming more and more enflamed. Sweat was _pouring _off her as if she were a Frost Giantess on vacation in equatorial Midguard. "Honestly Mopely! You're so damned _learned_ when it comes to everything else but you are an ABSOLUTE FOOL when it comes to this!"

Erindis felt very much chastened. The beautiful half naked Sif was standing up in front of her now. Her expression seemed to say, 'what _do you have to say for yourself?_' She knew Sif was trying to help but she couldn't allow herself to believe something that simply wasn't true. And it wouldn't do to tell her that the other reason her love for Loki was doomed: that he may have been plotting to incite an armed interplanetary incident and/or was in league with the Frost Giants themselves (one of whom was secretly his father). "Thanks," Erindis said sheepishly.

"Don't THANK me!" bellowed Sif with such violence that Erindis suddenly got an image of her on the battlefield. She could understand how this otherwise wonderful woman might inspire terror in her opponents. At that moment the dinner bell sounded.

"Well, I suppose we should go," said Erindis.

"You go, I'll stay here a while. You've got me so riled up my trochanter is acting up again."

"I'm sorry," said Erindis sheepishly before hurrying off. "I'll see you at dinner."

"I'll see you Mopely," said Sif turning her back to her.

When Erindis was gone Sif surveyed the empty steam room. There was no sound save for the steady shoots of steam, yet the walls seemed to echo with revelation. She pressed the button to turn off the jets. Then, closing her eyes and willing herself to concentrate, she leaned forward and with a

_POP!_

the Lady Sif changed back into Loki.

He sat alone on the bench for a while, still as a statue with pearls of sweat rolling all down his body. His arm still throbbed with the memory of Erindis' shoulders quaking beneath it. Minutes ago she had sat here. Had it been a dream? A fantasy his conscience had devised to punish him? "I am in love with Loki": were her wary, whispered words. How they had burned. If the bell had not rung, if she had but lingered but a second longer, he would not have let her leave before laying a thousand kisses in her.

She loved him. _How unfortunate for her._ It would bring her no joy, this love, for she believed him to be a monster. He remembered her agony as she had confessed it. _She thinks everything she does about me, and still she loves me…_ What had he done to deserve that love? Ridicule her? Belittle her? Torment her? And what of all the things he was planning to do that he hadn't yet? How would she look upon him then?

Yet Loki knew he loved Erindis. He loved her more passionately than cracked earth loved the rain; more fiercely than weariness loved the bones of an old man; more intimately than lonliness loved the confines of his own heart. It would rip him apart to hurt her, but perhaps The God of Mischief deserved no lesser punishment.


	9. Chapter 9

**Once again I am overwhelmed by your kind words of support and encouragement. Thanks for making my story even more fun to write :D Much love, hope you like the next chapter. **

**I do not own any of the Marvel characters. **

Chapter 9: Some Like it Freezing

To outsiders, the battering winds and glaciered landscape of Jotunheim would have seemed the perfect picture of trans-dimensional hell, but to King Loafey, it was a thing of rare beauty. He had sat on this throne for centuries, gazing over the Kingdom of black ice, where the sun never rose and the seasons never changed. His home had seen many pendulum swings of fortune, as was evidenced by the statues lining the foyer of his throne room: Asgardian warriors encased in shells of ice. If there was one thing Loafey had learned in all this time it was _patience._ An ice flow may look still, but it was always in motion, and the earth beneath it carved by its will. One day Jotunheim would rise again. One day the nine realms would be nothing more than frozen colonies and eternal night would fall over the people of Asgard. One day Odin would fall under his blade- but not before he was made to witness the murder of BOTH his sons, in vengeance for the son he had taken from him. Loafey never knew what had become of the child. Odin later claimed to have given him to a nameless couple of Asgard, to be raised a loyal subject. THE IMPUDENCE! One day Odin would pay. Until that day, Loafey would sit in his petrified palace and bide his time…

Of course, that's not all he did. The finest Frost Giant scientists in the realm were recruited to recreate the Relics of power taken by Asgard. These objects were the key to universal power. They would allow them to travel once again through the dimensions to Asgard. At first they had little success, but now, slowly, strides were being made. Each day brought the Frost Giants dreams of redemption a little bit closer. What they needed now was someone with knowledge and skill in the art of magic to help them. What they needed now, was a _real Sorcerer_.

"Your Majesty!" called one of Loafeys' pages, "there is a visitor here from the Bifrost, he demands an audience with you!"

Loafeys' blood red eyes widened, "an Asgardian?"

"He claims to be on a mission of peace your Majesty."

Loafey scoffed, _and a dagger can claim be on a mission of healing_. "Send him in."

The enormous ice bound doors swung open and a cloaked figure stepped into the throne room, dwarfed by the attendant Frost Giants.

"Reveal yourself Asgardian!" demanded Loafey. The visitor removed his hood and Loafey recognized the face of his ancient foe, Odin.

"I come here in peace Loafey."

"And unarmed," observed Loafey dangerously.

"As you see."

"What would you speak to me about, you that have made a hovel of my Kingdom?"

Odin looked around, it may have been dripping from every surface but _hadn't it always been_? Jotunheim was hardly a hovel_. _

"My son."

Loafeys' face lighted with intrigue, "_The Mighty Thor?_" he asked sardonically.

"No. My youngest, Loki."

"The God of Mischief?"

"Yes," said Odin gravely. "I fear he has done a very foolish deed."

"Indeed?"

"I fear that he has entered Jotunheim in secret and stolen something that belongs to you." Odin was aware of the irony of his words.

"_He would not be the first in your family to have stolen something from me_ _Odin. _Pray, what has he taken, this son of yours? Our daughters are all locked away in their rooms. Our riches are rubbish to you…"

Odin had known Loafey would try to bluff him, that he would never admit to the existence of new Relics.

"I fear he has taken a Relic of Power."

Loafey stared at him for a long time. Odin could feel his old enemy contemplating under the mask of his face. _It was an expression familiar to him…_

"What evidence do you have of this?" Loafey finally asked in a cautious tone.

"I have a spy working close to him. She stumbled upon a glowing blue rectangular object

he keeps in a secret chamber in his quarters. Its description fits the Frost Giant Relics perfectly. And besides that, I have long suspected my son of such undertakings…"

Loafey glared at him. "I want it back," he whispered menacingly, "I want what's mine BACK!"

"You should not be in possession of such an object in the first place," said Odin, "according to our agreenment-"

"The Agreement!" Loafey snorted. He stood up from his throne and walked towards Odin, his massive height looming menacingly over his enemy. "And where, does it say, i_n our agreement, _that you have the right to TAKE MY SON? WHERE DOES IT SAY _IN OUR AGREEMENT _THAT YOU COULD STEAL A ROYAL CHILD AND GIVE HIM TO SOME ANONYMOUS FAMILY IN ASGARD TO LIVE AND DIE A SERVANT OF _YOUR _REALM!"

Odin kept an even tone, "I have explained, Loafey, that I thought it was best, for the safety of the child…"

"_YOU _thought it best?" Loafey seethed.

"He was _abandoned_ in the temple."

"Yes. And there he should have stayed! I would rather had my son _died_ a Frost Giant then live an eon in your sickly pink likeness."

"Then I did right."

"I should smite you where you stand!" bellowed Loafey as his right arm crackled with the growth of a dagger sharp icicle.

"Thatwould be unwise," was all Odin needed to say for Loafey to back down and choke back his rage. Now was not the time for displays of fury. The smiting would come later,

what Loafey needed to do now was _think. _He knew that there were no new working Relics in Jotunheim, whatever the thing was that Loki had in his room the little devil had made himself. He was a great sorcerer,they all said… Perhaps he had succeeded where all Frost Giants had failed…

"Loki is jealous of his brothers position as heir," said Odin, "It is my belief that he wishes to incite some conflict between your kingdom and mine- with Thor at the centre of it."

"The ruler of the Universe can't even control his own family," said Loafey with relish. Fate could be so delicious. He sensed some unseen hand in all of this. Was Loki calling out to him through his father? Might he use the Sorcerors' loathing for his own brother to tempt into an alliance? Perhaps this God of Mischief was the one to bring Jotunheim to its former glory. He would promise Loki the throne of Asgard in return for his help in building new Relics, _then when his expertise was no longer needed…_

"What would you have me do?" said Loafey.

"Nothing."

"_Nothing?_"

"For now. If the peace is maintained you will have your Relic back, this I promise you."

Loafey narrowed his eyes. "You Asgardians talk much of honour. Do I have your word of honour that I will have my Relic back?"

"You have it," said Odin solemnly.

"I will hold you to it. And this son of yours?"

"Leave him to me."

Loafey watched as the King of Asgard crossed his foyer. One day his frozen corpse

would decorate this room. How unexpected it was, this turn of events, like winning the lottery! The whims of a foolish brat in Asgard would bring him victory over the whole of the Universe. _If only Asgardians knew how to discipline their children… _Loki would probably contact him soon. The future was already set, as if written by slow ice.

Loki had told Thor to meet him at the door of his quarters at dinner and was surprised to find his brother already there at the appointed time. _Perhaps he was hoping to catch a glimpse of Erindis. _

"Been to the Baths Brother?" Thor quizzed him, eyeing his damp hair. Thor knew Loki was hardly one to follow a regime of relaxation.

Loki flashed his brother a disarming grin, "you know what the Romans of Midguard said, '_Baths, wine, and sex ruin our bodies but make life worth living'_."

"Ha! Ha! Indeed!" chortled Thor.

Loki knew his brother loved these kinds of crass morsels of wisdom and he needed now to beguile him. "Brother, I was wondering if you might know where our father went today," said Loki with a veil of concern.

"Father? I didn't know he was away."

"O you didn't?" said Loki, with a hint of deference, "well if _you_ don't think he is then he probably isn't… I only ask because-" here Loki pretended to stop himself.

"Because why?" asked Thor with wetted intrigue.

"O it's probably nothing, just a rumour… It wouldn't merit repeating to you…"

Thor lifted his chin up imperiously, "Everything in this Kingdom concerns me, I am the heir to the throne."

Lokis eyes flashed, "well, perhaps I _should _tell you then… There has been talk; a few senators have been saying that Father is visiting Jotunheim today, _on his own._"

Loki watched as Thors' eyes lit up. There was something hungry in them. Just hearing that word, '_Jotunheim'_,had filled him with the zeal of child.

"You are right to have told me brother," he said, patting Loki gruffly on the shoulder.

"You- you won't _do _anything about it, will you Brother?" inquired Loki in mock concern. "You won't _attempt to go to Jotunheim yourself _will you?"

"You think I shouldn't, Brother?" asked Thor.

"O no. You mustn't go. It is very _dangerous_ in Jotunheim... Those Frost Giants are a fierce breed, even your mighty Mjolnir may be no match for them."

"Fear nothing Loki, I will be back in time to sup!" and with that he gave him another pat on the shoulder and took off down the corridor.

Loki sighed. How easy it was to manipulate Thor… As many times as he'd done it, it never failed to astound him afresh.

Erindis sat alone at dinner. Sif, from whom she had parted only an hour ago was nowhere to be seen. Nor were Odin, Loki or Thor and the rest of the warriors. She wondered if Loki had returned yet from Jotunheim or _wherever he had gone._ It nagged her how often he operated out of her sight. She wasn't accustomed to failing so miserably in her assignments but then again she wasn't accustomed to anything she had been doing over the past few days…

She scanned the room again for Odin. The All Father was keeping her in the dark as to his plans. Did he not trust her? Was it not enough that she was risking her life to baby sit for him? But then, why should he trust her?Falling in love with the object of ones espionage could hardly be construed as professional (not that Odin knew anything of her feelings THANKFULLY). Everywhere in the Palace there were whisperings that he had gone to Jotunheim. "They say Odin has gone there _alone,_" Erindis heard a man across the table whisper. "The All Father is old to be taking such risks… What happens to Asgard if he gets his throat slit by a Frost Giant? Please do not tell me that _Thor_ is ready to take over…" Erindis gulped. Odin was putting his life in jeopardy and _it was all her fault_. What if his theory was wrong? What if he was killed trying to broker a peace with the Frost Giants? His death would be on her head! She felt nauseous. For some reason her mind had chosen bypass Loki and his guilt for all this... _Calm down _she told herself. In truth, she had no cause to doubt the wisdom of Odin. If he had plans beyond her awareness she would just have to trust them. She took a drink of water and felt herself returning from the edge of reason. _Whatever that bastard is planning, he isn't going to let his father die. _

Then, as if conjured by telepathy, Loki appeared in the entrance of the Banquet Hall. Erindis tried to read his expression. What would a man look like who had been to Jotunheim that day? Erindis could not put her finger on it, but something about him _did_ seem different. It was as if a light bulb had been turned on under his skin. His spirits seemed at once lighter and heavier. He was looking around the room, as if in search of someone. Erindis felt her heart crack; at any moment Freyja would arrive on a cloud of perfume and smuggle him away from her sight. Erindis turned away, she couldn't bear to watch.

Never did Erindis wish more that she had been able to master the art of shape shifting. They offered no such instruction at the Academy. It was considered too _dark_ an art. If she could have, she would have transformed herself now into a sparrow nd flown far away from all this gilt and ceremony. Never before had gold resembled so much wrought iron.

Erindis headed for the balcony, hoping she might find relief for a moment among the leaves and flowers. 

Instead she found him.

Loki was alone on the balcony, leaning his elegant height against a column. With no room full of people to scan, he seemed lost in a world of his own thoughts. The breeze played with his hair a little. In the pale moonlight he looked preternaturally beautiful.

Erindis hovered over the entrance of the balcony, She couldn't look away but she didn't want to be seen (she didn't think she could handle any barbed comments from him tonight). She watched as he gazed over the skyline. The majestic towers and stadiums, the colossal statues and hanging gardens: it was the world he had known all his life. It seemed so sad to Erindis, for someone to fight so hard to feel they belonged to place, when it was secretly all a lie… She wanted to run to him and throw her arms around him so badly now. She wanted to tell him to stop, to tell him that it wasn't worth it, whatever he was planning. But what difference would it make to him? What difference could _she _make? She was nothing. She was nobody.

"I know you're standing there you know," Loki said after a mortifyingly long time. Then, turning to face her, "You are not as good of a spy as you think".

That made Erindis' heart skip a beat but she decided it was just a coincidental thing to say… _Surely… _"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to- I'm sorry for intruding."

Lokis' eyes were fixed on the cup of a flower. He studied it for a long time, hypnotised by the golden spiral of its pollen. "Don't be," he said quietly.

"I didn't take the God of Mischief for one to shy away from parties," said Erindis, cautiously stepping on to the balcony.

"And I didn't take you for one to go jumping into creeks."

Erindis felt herself blush while at the same time wondering if that was a compliment. Did he mean to say that he hadn't taken her for somebody adventurous? Did he not think she was spontaneous and worldly enough to make good company? Loki must have read her thoughts. "Don't misunderstand me Erindis," he said, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. She was caught off guard by the touch, and by his tone; how imperative it seemed to him that she understand. "I would not presume to make any assumptions about your character."

"I should think that you have already made assumptions Sir." Erindis was stunned by her own frankness.

"How can I?" he asked, drwing fatally closer, "when I hardly know you."

"Really?" breathed Erindis, "I assumed you know me well, since you always know what to say to me that will be the most cutting."

Loki continued to stare at her, his hand on her shoulder. His eyes burned in their intensity. He was impossible to decipher, but somehow Erindis knew he had not been indifferent to those words. Then he smiled, as if it gave him pain to do so, and said, "One fosters a false sense of _knowing _a person sometimes, when one is struck with an immediate and overwhelming affinity for them."

Erindis was taken aback. What kind of game was this? What kind of gleeful torture? She breathed in deeply. Lokis' scent mingled with that of the famed hedychiums in the night air. He drew even closer to her as if pulled by magnetism. They were a sliver apart now. Her nether regions (which had, of late, been operating quite independently of her will) were engulfed in explosive sensations. She tried to stop her chest from heaving too noticeably as she felt his warm breath on her face and neck. Any closer and all semblance of control would be pulverized by _that mouth_. O God! That sweet, sadistically sensual mouth, hovering so close to hers… _Have done with it! _ In that moment she couldn't have cared less that he was a traitor. After all, she too was a traitor. Was not loving her enemy treason against her own heart? She wished she had a shred of will left to stop herself with. She wished she could go back in time and un-know what she knew. Un-know him. She wished she'd never set foot in the capital. She wished she'd never laid eyes on Loki. _But not really. _

That was the worst part: _not really._

She looked up at him and whispered, almost pleaded, "You are playing with me Sir."

"Call me Loki," he shot back, equally plaintive. He leaned in now, unspeakably close. Erindis closed her eyes and prepared her lips for his. She trembled, like a leaf in a storm, before giving herself over entirely to the moment of intoxication, _to the moment of madness _as he laid his mouth on hers and covered it in a searing kiss.

Erindis had heard told of, as a child, a portal that lay on the edge of the stars from which, if one could step inside it, one could experience the whole of the universe at once. Every sight, every sound, every feeling in the cosmos all at once electrifying ones body. She had balked at the idea as a fairytale; but now, folded against Lokis' chest, with his lips scorching her own, she thought that perhaps the story might bear a little clout.

She took a deep breath as they finally parted. To her shock Loki seemed to be as lost in bliss as she was. _Could it be that he_-

"LOKI! COME QUICK!" bellowed Fandral from entrance of the balcony. He was in a state of panic, "Odin has returned from Jotunheim. He intercepted Thor and the rest of us warriors on our way to Loafeys palace! There was a mighty quarrel between Odin and Thor. When we finally returned to Asgard, Odin was so overcome with stress that he collapsed and fell into an Odinsleep _right there _in the sphere of the Bifrost!"

A shadow passed over Lokis' face. "Are any of them hurt?" he asked.

"Not as far as I can see."

"Stay here and keep everyone calm Fandral."

Erindis' head swam as she followed Loki down the hallway to the Healing Chambers. When they came to the entrance he stopped and looked at her. It was a strange look, as though he wasn't sure whether she was an angel or a bomb. "Please go back to my quarters," he said gently. It didn't sound like an order, but Erindis knew it was. She turned to go when he suddenly grabbed her wrist to stop her. Loki placed a firm hand on the back of her neck and pulled her to him in an urgent, aggressive kiss that made her knees buckle. "Now go." he said.

And she went, dismissed into the darkness of the corridor, trying to make sense of what had happened.


	10. Chapter 10

**I cannot express how honoured I am to have my story read by so many wonderful people :D Thank you so much for your support once again, it means the world! Much love! Hope you like 10. **

**I do not own any of the marvel characters.**

Chapter 10: Errors

Loki never got used to it; the sight of his father lying there like some prehistoric creature suspended in amber. Thor was on his knees at Odins' bedside. His stepmother, Frigga, sat on a chair beside him, her cheeks pale as narcissuses. It wouldn't have been fair for Odin to have lain there, peacefully ignorant of the suffering around him. _But it would have merciful._ Loki knew, as only few did, that Odin remained fully aware of all that went on around him during the Odinsleep. To be able to observe but not influence seemed to Loki the cruellest of all purgatories. And that was where fate had assigned his poor father. It was where Loki himself, however unwittingly, had put him.

The mighty Thor was wracked with grief as he looked up at his brother. "I did this to him Loki," he said in a despairing voice that seemed not his own. "I went to Jotunheim when I shouldn't have! _You warned me yourself _not to go, but I didn't listen." He swallowed back a sob.

"Don't blame yourself," said Loki quietly as he gazed down at Odin. He knew his father didn't blame Thor either. _Not really. _"A man can't help his own nature," he said to no one in particular. 

"It was those blasted Frost Giants," said Thor, now seething in defence of himself, "_they_ must have upset him… I was only trying to…"

"What was his business in Jotunheim, do you know?" asked Loki carefully.

"No," said Thor, "But they must have done something to threaten Asgard! There's been talk for months about them having spies here! Father must have uncovered something."

"That does seem to be the only explanation…"

"What else could it be?" spat Thor.

"You are in charge of the Kingdom now Thor." Loki felt his own blood run cold as he said it. This had not been his intention. This had not been his intention _at all_. "You must act responsibly. You must not make any rash decisions. Many innocent lives hang in the balance." It was a dangerous game now, dealing with Thor. He was like an untrained hound with knives for teeth and no muzzle. "I'm sure your detractors, and the Frost Giants themselves, _expect _you to be foolhardy. They _expect _you to behave as though you were playing soldiers." Thor stared down at Odin woefully. "It is what _Father_ feared you might do. He was afraid you'd gather up an army and storm Jotunheim at the first opportunity. He didn't listen to me when I told him you were wiser than that. '_Thor will do as his itchy battle fingers tell him to do_'," said Loki, imitating his father with eerie aptitude, " _But I told him, 'No, Father, Thor will do no such thing. He will not do anything before he has gathered sufficient evidence._' I told him, '_one day, Father, Thor will astound you with his patience and diplomatic skill._'"

Thor took a moment to take this in. Loki knew that it was a potentially explosive combination: guilt and rage. To his relief, Thor nodded calmly. "Thank you for having faith in me brother." With that the God of Thunder arose and said, "I will call an assembly of my closest advisors in one hour in the Throne room, I expect you there Brother. You must be my hand in all of this."

_Yes and your evidently brain as well, _thought Loki. Then Thor left to prepare himself for the farce of leadership and Loki was alone with Odin and his silent, watchful Stepmother. Frigga regarded him with gentle, knowing eyes.

"Thor is a good boy Loki," she said, "he may have a lot to learn yet, but he _tries _to be good."

_Trying, _is that all that was asked of anyone anymore? Even when the entire realm lay in the balance? "I know Frigga," he said quietly. He looked at his father. Beneath that amber shroud he looked so much frailer than Loki had ever noticed before. His limbs, his features seemed somehow shrunken. He was not that larger than life, armoured hero whose wafting approval Loki had chased since childhood. He looked like an old man who needed caring for; who might evaporate the instant his head was turned.

"May I be alone with him for a minute?" Loki asked Frigga.

Frigga got up and put her hand on Lokis' shoulder. "He hears you Loki," she said, "he hears all." Then she left, the sound of her gown sweeping the floor, piercing the silence.

"I know that you think me responsible for this father," whispered Loki. There was a tremor in his voice which would have mounted into an unstoppable torrent of sobs had he tried to speak any louder. "I know you think that I'm a monster. But this_, this, _is not what I wanted. I never planned for this to happen… You must believe that…" He felt a tear streak his face and bit down hard on his lower lip. "I promise you father, that I will prove you wrong. I promise, I will make you_ proud_ of me, as you never imagined you could be… I am not as you think I am father." Nothing in Odin indicated that he heard him, not a twitch of the mouth, not a butterfly flutter of eyelids.

An hour later they had assembled, Thors' so called 'advisers'. _Of course _he had picked his rag tag team of warriors: Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun and Sif. Loki suspected they knew nothing of politics (unless it was the politics of swordplay and sportsmanship). Thankfully Ermir, the Lord of Lagloon, was there as well, and a few other wizened looking councillors. They at least would not be as blinded by the lemon-haired lustre of Odins' favourite son. Thor sat on his throne at the head of the table. Loki had to admit that physically he cut a very good figure of a King. He also had the kind of face that would launch a thousand commemorative coins. Loki took the seat next to Thor.

"I have called the first meeting of the Royal Advisory Council in order to go over, ah, a few important issues in the wake of my fathers' _condition_" said Thor, apparently unaccustomed to channels of bureaucracy. "The first item: the threat of Frost Giants infiltrating Asgard."

"What evidence do we have of this?" asked Ermir. He had red hair like his daughter Freyja but was in every other way her opposite: he was cautious, contemplative and, as a woman of the court had once remarked at a party, 'ugly as sin' ("_I tell you Lydia I would not accept a shelled walnut from that mans hands!_"). He would make a good ally.

"Nothing substantial," said Thor, "but my Fathers' presence at Jotunheim today must surely bear some indication of foul play at their end."

"What we need is a diplomat." said Loki silkily, "Someone who can travel to Jotunheim and get to the bottom of this, peacefully. It must be someone you can trust; someone who is eloquent; someone who can worm their way into Loafeys' confidence and work for the best interests of Asgard; perhaps even, someone skilled in the art of shape shifting, who can mimic the appearance of a Frost Giant and blend into the court, if necessary."

Thor raised a golden eyebrow, "someone like _you_ Brother?"

"If you believe I fit that description…" said Loki demurely.

Volstagg cackled merrily across the table. "FIT THAT DESCRIPTION?" he cried, "I, wager that silver tongue of yours could convince me that my own dear wife had been born of a horse!"

_Helga?_ Loki thought to himself, _one might just as easily assume she was cloven footed by all that clacking noise she makes when she walks. _But he said nothing and smiled at his friend. 

"Do you think you could get to the bottom of this Jotunheim business Loki?" asked Thor.

"With great efficiency Brother," replied Loki, "I shall set out the moment you command me too."

"Best wait till tomorrow. But know this: if you fail, I shall be _forced _to raise an army and invade Jotunheim."

"I understand Brother," said Loki quietly, "you are a King and will do what you must. But let us hope that day does not come."

"The next item," said Thor, apparently beginning to rather enjoy this new formality, "The Solar Palio Chariot Race." Every year the Chariot Race took place in Asgard and every year it was accompanied by a spectacular ball held at the Palace. It was the most anticipated social occasion of the year and was attended by citizens from all corners of the realm.

"It will have to cancelled, surely!" cried Ermir a little prissily (_perhaps he was more like his daughter after all_).

Volstaggs' jaw dropped in outrage, "Canceled! You can't cancel the Feas- I mean the _Solar Palio_, it's tradition! What are the cooks going to do with all that pudding?"

"But the All Father is in an Odinsleep," reminded Ermir, "surely it would be inappropriate to-"

"He has been in an Odinsleep before," said Fandral, twirling his whiskers, "and he will be in many more over the course of his long life, Fates willing. It has never prevented the Solar Palio from taking place."

Ermir frowned, "But surely in these circumstances…"

"Why should we let politics rob the people of Asgard of their favourite sporting event?" said Sif. Hogun nodded in solidarity.

"…All those mince pies… All those tubs of gravy... All those casks of mulled wine… sitting there, untouched!" moaned Volstagg, "WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CATERORS!"

"The Warriors are right Brother," said Loki, "the Solar Palio will go a long way in preserving the morale of the Realm while Father is in the Odinsleep. It is up to us to put on a brave front." Loki watched his brother consider their arguments. He knew what Thors' answer would be. No one had mentioned what was surely the most important factor in his decision: the fact that at the end of the day, it was all one big birthday party _for him. _

"Then it is agreed. We shall have the Palio, as planned, this Thursday, September 5th!" said Thor. The warriors cheered, Ermir knit his crimson brows and Loki smiled mischievously. The Palio was such an important event, all of Asgard would be watching Thor… Perhaps Lokis' plans could be salvaged after all…

A few minutes later, the meeting was adjourned and Loki was released… He bolted through the corridors to his chambers. Never had the prospect of returning home been so tantalizing to him.

_She _was waiting there_…_

All this time, even with the Odinsleep and the catastrophe of Thors' rule unfolding around him, Loki had not been able to quell the desire that raged inside him. _Erindis. _She still lingered on his lips. The remembrance of her shaking on the balcony; her scent, her eye lashes beating like birds wings: the more he thought of her, the more she threatened to drown him. It was like being plunged, head first, into a sea of the sweetest liqueur and attempting to drink his way to dry land. He wanted her. Nothing else mattered. Crumble all the realm: he would still WANT her! And she was waiting…

_Odin asleep, Thor in charge_: _surely this was not his plan, _thought Erindis as she paced alone in Lokis' quarters. Her brain was still in a kiss-induced fog, but she willed herself to think. She could not afford not unravel now, not in the wake of Odins' _departure_. She was alone now; a spy with no contact, a servant with no master. She couldn't even trust herself to follow her own intuition anymore. Since meeting Loki she had functioned less and less as a person each day, until finally her passion had reduced her to a nothing more than a walking, talking _appetite_. She cursed herself. Because of her Odin was now unreachable, Loki was likely in league with the Frost Giants and Thor was a little boy with a crown on his head.

And yet…

A little piece of her wondered whether she should confront Loki; tell him the truth about what she was doing here and hope he might give her some answers. There was something tender about that first paralyzing kiss. Had she imagined it? Could she allow herself to believe that he cared for her enough to- _No_ she told herself. This was Loki. This was the man who had a Frost Relic stashed away under his room. This was the man who had her mixing potions so that he could travel to Jotunheim. Just because she loved him; just because he was an _earth shattering _kisser, didn't mean she could trust him. After waiting what seemed like forever for Loki to return, Erindis sprawled herself out on the black couch in the main room. She lay there, feeling her eyelids beginning to sink, but determined to bolt upright at the first clatter of the lock. It was here, that Loki found her some minutes later, fast asleep.

Everyone Loki had ever observed sleeping had seemed to acquire a kind of saint-ish quality. Perhaps it was because they were unaware they were being watched. Even Volstagg, when he was slumped against the wall of the banquet hall in an ale induced coma, his beard littered with crumbs and sodden with beer, snoring and occasionally belching out a little phrase; EVEN _HE_ was an angelic sleeper. Erindis, much to Lokis' surprise, was a different story... Her hair was a mess. Attractively so. Strands of it were tucked into cleavage that was the result of her delightfully contorted position on the couch. Her dress was gathered up at her thighs and offered up for examination, a pair of shapely legs and an ass that would have made a Warrior applaud. The sight of her made Loki feel as though it was lava coursing through his veins instead of blood. Sleeping like this on his couch in his main room, Erindis looked like no saint.

Alas, the sight was short lived.

"You're back!" cried Erindis as her eyes flew open. Then, alarmed at seeing so much of herself exposed, she furiously patted down the skirt of her dress. "Is everybody all right?"

"Yes," answered Loki. "It could have been bad if Thor and the others had reached Loafey, but they didn't". Erindis looked up at him with the fear of a wounded animal. Was she afraid of him? Was she _truly afraid of him_ now that she was alone with no Odin to protect her and give her orders? Loki was surprised by just how much pain this idea gave him. He wished he could soothe her somehow. What use was his silver tongue if it could not keep the woman he loved from looking at him like he was a demon in disguise?

"Your father-"

"Is deep in the Odinsleep," he answered.

"I'm sorry," she said. _Is that what you wanted? _Erindis longed to ask. She scanned his face for a clue, but as usual, it remained a perfect puzzle. "And Thor?"

"Is King. For the moment."

They were silent. What were they doing? What were these words? What were these lies they were flinging at each other like blades of straw? Loki sat down next to her. Their knees touched. There was already a rush. Even before the anticipation, there was the _anticipation of_ _anticipation._

"Have you been waiting for me all this time?" he asked.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Why?"

Erindis couldn't bring herself to answer him. Lokis' eyes looked greener than ever. They were unwrapping her. He drew closer. She felt her heart seize as he brushed his lips against her cheek. It was the gentlest of kisses. Then he placed another on the opposite cheek. Erindis closed her eyes. It was likebeing dangled face first from a cliff over white-hearted, white rapid water. She knew that eventually, some soft, unpitying hand would let go of her, and she would fall.

"_Loki_…" whispered Erindis. It was part plea, part warning. Loki could never have predicted the reaction it caused inside him. She had called him by his name. For the first time: his name from those lips. It was like _being_ _given _a name. Out of necessity he swooped forward and claimed those lips with his own. He could not afford to hear her say it again, his name, lest he dissolve completely. She returned his kiss instantly and with a force that sent shockwaves through him. She pressed her hands into his chest. Loki wasn't sure if it was to keep him at bay or steady her own desire. He felt her breath catch as he opened the kiss.

Erindis' worst fears about Loki were confirmed: in allowing herself to taste a single drop of him, she had discovered her thirst to be bottomless. She lost herself in exploration of his mouth; lips, tongue, teeth. He was as eloquent in his kisses as he was in his rhetoric. He bit down on her bottom lip and sucked it. Erindis moaned. She never _moaned. _What else was he going to make her do? Something told her she didn't care. Nothing else in the world existed. Until that is, _he found her neck_. He was thorough, branding it with his hot mouth, starting from the bottom and moving upwards, very slowly. He bit down and he suckled. _Her throat was going to bear the marks of this tomorrow. _Why wasn't that enough to make her stop? Not an inch of her flesh was neglected. Erindis heard herself gasp as he ran his tongue against the hollow of her throat. She felt him smile against her skin at the response he was eliciting. Surely such pleasure was lethal. _Damned Bastard. Damned silver tongue._

Suddenly Loki pushed her down and grabbed her wrists and pinned her arms above her head on the couch so that he might explore her body with his mouth unhindered. He looked down at in her, in her newly assailable position, and grinned. He swooped back down to her neck and slowly kissed his way to her ear; nibbling on the lobe and filling its shell with his hot breath. He kissed her, deeply on the mouth again before giving the same treatment to her other ear. Erindis gave an involuntarily whimper. She wanted to die, but not before this was all over. She was lost in his touch. She was lost in the smell of him, as if gassed by the fumes of paradise. She gasped as he placed a delicate hand on her breast then kneaded more firmly. She was surprised by how good it felt, and how naturally she responded. He kissed between her breasts, wetting the thin linen of her dress. She found herself cursing it, this flimsy blockade between his mouth and her flesh. She wished he would make it disappear. She wanted to be naked before him. "Take it off," she begged in a voice of breath (could this _be _her voice?).

Loki smiled, "Take what off?" he teased, looking up at her with his chin resting against her belly button. His fingers were drawing dangerous circles through the fabric on her thighs.

"My dress…" she was forced to say.

"What about it?" he asked coming up again and trailing scorching open mouthed kisses along her jaw.

"TAKE IT OFF!" she pleaded.

"If you insist," he purred. In one motion, Loki swiped his hand all down her front, ripping the dress in two. "I never liked the thing anyway," he said tearing away the pieces of her bodice. From the waist up she was fully exposed and at his mercy. A look of fear must have crossed her eyes then for he gripped her face in his hands tenderly and laid a passionate kiss on her lips. Even at the precipice of her own doom, it made Erindis feel safe. _Trust me_ he seemed to say. And she did. _She actually did. _

Erindis laughed out loud when their lips parted. It was a horrible, high pitched laugh that bordered on sobbing. She could not bring herself to stop. She had suddenly come face to face with the absurdity of the whole situation. Loki could not have known how much she wanted this. It was a game to him. From the first day, she had been drunk off the sound of his voice. The second they touched, Erindis knew what the outcome would be. Now, lying beneath him wearing nothing but a scant pair of panties, she already felt the anticipation of loss. He would make love to her. Eventually she would be sent away. She would never be able to forget him or this night for as long as she lived. But she would part from his memory like breath parting a body; easily and in no time at all. Erindis cackled again.

Loki seemed startled. This made her laugh even more. "What is wrong?" he begged. He said it so gently that it broke her heart. _How marvellously he plays this part! _

"This is intolerable," Erindis whispered after one last torrent of laugh/sobs. "You play with me as if you were a kitten and I your ball of yarn."

"I am _not_ playingwith you…" he said. He stared into her eyes and his beautiful mouth trembled slightly.

"You say that because you don't know how I feel." Erindis felt herself on the verge of tears.

Something flickered behind Lokis' face; an impulse he was deciding whether or not to follow. "I know exactly how you feel," he said after a moment. He took a deep breath. "When you went to the baths today, it was _I _you confessed your feelings to."

Erindis' eyes widened in horror.

"Y-y-you pretended to be Sif?" She felt as though she had been knifed in the stomach.

"I'm a shape shifter".

Erindis rose from the couch and covered her chest with her hands. She waved her hand in the air and her dress repaired itself and pasted back onto her body. It was quick, fluid, incisive: the first practical sorcery Loki had seen his apprentice use.

"H-how d-dare you?" she shouted, her voice shaking, "WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT-"

"To what?" Loki shot back. He rose from the couch and towered over her, "deceive you? Lie to you about you about my intentions? _Go through your bedchamber when I think no one is looking?_"

Erindis felt her heart stop.

"Did you think I didn't know?" He was walking towards her now, mouth twisted into a cruel smile. "Did you think I wouldn't guess exactly what you were doing here?" Erindis trembled, inching backwards. "Did you think you could outmanoeuvre me?"

"I know what you're doing," whispered Erindis.

"You don't know _anything_, you only _think_ you know."

"Why are you doing it?" spat Erindis, "you can't hate your brother that much."

"I don't."

"Then _why_?" she demanded. Any minute now he was going to hex her into oblivion, she might as well get all the answers she could.

"Why _what?_" He was beautifully terrifying. What a perverse fate it would be if the last thing Erindis ever saw was that face.

"Why you are plotting with the Frost Giants, AGAINST YOUR OWN FAMILY?"

Loki laughed. It was a genuine laugh, not a cruel one. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"I found the Frost Relic in your secret chamber."

"And I put it there for you to find."

Erindis stared at him doubtfully.

"I knew you would run to my father and tell him all about it."

Was it possible that she had been more stupid than she had previously imagined. "You wanted him to go to Jotunheim… You wanted your brother to go after him, to cause a brawl, to make him look like an idiot..."

"He IS an idiot," shot back Loki, "my intention was merely to bring to light that fact."

"He could have DIED. Not to mention the threat you have caused to the peace between Asgard and Jotunheim! You did all this, ALL OF IT, because you couldn't bear to see your brother take the throne one day? Because you were _jealous_?Is it possible that you could be that SELFISH? That you could be that VILE?"

Her words hit Loki like arrows. He felt them in his viscera. "Thor would plough Asgard into the ground," he seethed, "already he talks of raising an army and invading Jotunheim."

"Whose fault is that?" whipped back Erandis.

A shadow of supreme sadness passed over Loki's brow. "My father falling into an Odinsleep was not my intention."

"I believe you," said Erindis gently. "Fool that I am, I believe you."

"I don't care what _you _believe," lied Loki.

Erindis was more stung by this comment than anything else, but she refused to let it show. "You once told me," she said, "that I must 'accept my craft, sorcery, for what it is. That I must _love it for what it is_, the way one would a lover, with all their interminable flaws and infuriatingly habits'," Erindis blushed upon repeating the similie, "does not the same courtesy hold for a _brother_? Must you not except Thor for all his flaws and weaknesses and help him on his path?"

"Not if it is the path that leads to all our ruin," said Loki darkly.

"Look what the alternative has wrought," said Erindis, "look at what you have done!"

Loki regarded her with the smile of a sphinx. "Yes. Look at it. All me. All my doing. Can you love me still Erindis Mopely Everdine, now that you know what a monster I am?" he asked dispassionately.

Erindis felt as though there were thorns growing around her heart. He spoke as if it was some freakish thing of little interest to him, her love. "With the whole of my being," she answered. "That would not change if you commanded an army of Frost Giants." _Or if you yourself were one, _she thought. 

Loki seemed taken aback. "But surely you regard me as loathsome-"

"Your actions are misguided, but I love you just the same. You told me yourself one couldn't choose who one loved. But then, were disguised as Sif when you said it, so perhaps I should not put so much weight-"

"You love me?" he interrupted, seemingly unable to absorb this simple fact.

"Yes. But that is irrelevant. You obviously don't care about me. You have used me as pawn for your nefarious deeds. And you were about to use me again, for your-" she couldn't get out the word out, 'pleasure'. "I'll go now," she said, fighting back tears. She would not give him the satisfaction of more tears.

Loki was overcome with a love that was new, novel, unknown in its magnitude. For the first time it seemed to immobilize him; wring his heart, choke him like some pale, unseen hand. He could not speak. There was no breathing it out. There was no relief.

"I will leave you alone now," Erindis said. Loki could not endure this any longer. He grabbed her waist and pulled her too him violently. He felt her shock as he kissed her, deeply, desperately on the mouth. She gasped as he lifted her up in his arms (_Such untold strength_ thought Erindis, she felt as though she weighed no more than a feather.) He continued kissing her, countless frantic kisses over her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, her brows, her eyelids. "Do you not see?" he breathed in between his frenzy of kisses, "how completely and helplessly I love you?" He covered Erindis' gasp with his mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt her shiver; she too recognized that they had reached the edge of no return. It frightened her and excited her both at once. She wanted to be prepared.

"Loki," she whispered as he carried her through the corridor into his bedroom. "Do you have anymore Apricot juice?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you with all my heart for your kind reviews. And thanks to anyone for reading. You make writing this fic an even greater pleasure :D Much love! Hope Chapter 11 is ok :D**

**I don't own any Marvel characters.**

Chapter 11: Hot/Cold

How was it possible to reap such profound, _unfathomable_ happiness from the body of another? In her flesh, Loki found valleys, nooks, caves and uncharted rivers begging for exploration. Lying naked and writhing against the black satin of his sheets was _a whole world._ It was a world he wanted to enter and never come return from. Erindis looked up at him. She could not have known what this did to him. She could not have known the frenzy she incited.

"Loki," she said nervously, "I've never done this before". Erindis felt as though she had done it a thousand times before _in her mind_. She had encyclopaedic knowledge of a great many subjects and she liked to think that sex, theoretical sex, was no different. But now, standing over the precipice of the real thing, she realized how unquestionably she was a novice.

"I know," whispered Loki as he planted a trail of slow kisses from her shoulder up to her neck.

Erindis felt vaguely insulted by this, "You know? _How _do you know?" she asked, fighting the urge to tilt her head back and swoon.

"_I know everything_," said Loki, smiling against the sensitive skin at the base of her neck.

"Then you know," she whispered in his ear, "that what I lack is experience, NOT imagination…" Loki looked up at her face. Those green eyes of his were mad with lust now, _mad_. Erindis nodded to confirm what she had just said. This seemed to push Loki past some final threshold. He pushed her against the pillow in a kiss that Erindis was sure would bruise. She ran her hands through his hair and all down his back. He had disappeared the first layer of his clothing and now she surprised him by eliminating the rest with a wave of her hand. Erindis gasped at the shock of his chest, cool and smooth, against hers. Skin to skin she could feel his heart, galloping wildly as it matched the beating of her own.

"That was a capital idea," said Loki in between lapping her throat.

"I thought you said you would never praise my sorcery…" she said, pressing her fingers into his back, obliterating all space between them.

"I lied," said Loki as he bit down between her neck and her shoulder, "in case you hadn't noticed, I do that sometimes..." Erindis slapped him playfully and Loki laughed. Then his hand found the area between Erindis' legs that had been throbbing since he'd first kissed her. "Trust me," he whispered.

Erindis gasped. Loki knew what he was doing. It was like he was conducting a symphony of sensations. Her pleasure came in movements, in waves. Each new one threatened to send her over the edge. She couldn't take it! It was too good! She hadn't even noticed that her eyes were closed her face turned away from him. "Look at me," he ordered her. And she did. Their eyes locked. His were filled with _want_, _unquenchable want_ and… _tenderness_. And something else she couldn't quite identify. It was as though she joyed and wounded him all at once. Erindis placed her hand on his cheek. "I love you," she said. Below, Lokis' hand continued its exquisite, overpowering ministrations.

"I love you," he said.

"Loki, do you think you could… Please, I… I want to…" She couldn't quite say it: _I want you inside me_… He understood without hearing the words. Erindis moaned as Loki entered her. It was pain. It was pleasure. It was Valhalla. They began to move as one mass, in one rhythm. The borders of their individual selves were blurred. For a few moments, Loki seemed to penetrate not only her, but the boundaries of his own being. He was not himself, she was not herself; they were one and they were each other. They were matter and sweat and pleasure and motion. It was more liberating than shape shifting. The climax that rocked him was at once the most transcendent and the most _bodily _experience of his life_._ For Loki, it had never been like this before. Not with anyone.

Erindis' body still hummed with the aftershock of her own climax as she rested her head against Lokis' cool chest some minutes later. She had never felt as comfortable with anyone as she did then, folded under his arm in the silence and darkness. His hand traced circles around her shoulder. He was staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. It was indecent how happy she was. For the first time joy was a tactile sensation. Erindis felt it as surely as she felt the body breathing beneath her cheek. But she didn't trust it: it was too good. She was not accustomed to life bequeathing her with such happiness.

Erindis brushed Lokis' chest lightly with her lips. He brought her palm to his own and kissed it. Loki turned to look at her face. He smiled. He was about to say something but then decided against it and stroked her forehead instead.

"What?" asked Erindis.

"Nothing," he and smiled at her some more.

"What?"

"_Who are you _Erindis Mopely Everdine?" he said with a little laugh of wonder.

"So kind of you to ask after the fact," said Erindis jokingly. "I'll let you know when I find out myself".

"You come from the Brinnan province," said Loki authoritatively. "Farm girl. Infuriating know-it-all."

"Hey," said Erindis giving his ear a playful tug.

"I'm just stating the facts, as I see them. Let's see: You apologize more than you should. You get jealous and flustered easily. You are a terrible liar but that doesn't stop you from doing it. You bite your lip when you are anxious, it makes me want to swoop in and bite it for you. You trust Sif, but not me. You want badly to feel alive but sometimes you are afraid to lose yourself in the danger of life. You like knowledge. Nothing scares you when it is bound up in a book. You are intimidated by the nobility of the Æsir, but you shouldn't be; you are a goddess in all but name." Lokis' fingers trailed down her back. "You have a scar down your back which sugguests something once ripped you open- by the way your eyes changed just now- both literally and figuratively."

Erindis took a deep breath. She was hardly used to being examined, let alone being seen so clearly. "There was an accident on the farm five years ago. I was injured. It killed my mother."

Loki pulled her tighter against him. "I'm so sorry my Darling," he whispered.

"I tried to help her… I tried… But I didn't- I didn't have the _skill… _at the time…" Erindis swallowed hard. She watched the tear she had shed streak across Loki's bare chest.

"We sorcerors think like that sometimes," said Loki, "we presume all of life is pliable to our will. We think nothing is fixed-"

Erindis nodded, she knew what he was going to say before he said it, "I know. Some things are fixed. Death is fixed."

"Which is why we must _live_ so totally," said Loki, kissing her on her nose, "why we must snatch up every bit of pleasure and every scrap of happiness that we can."

Erindis gazed at him, this man who had teased her, insulted her, lied to her, flirted with her, tormented her, instructed her, made love to her. She felt as though she were finally seeing through to _him_. Loki clothed his soul in mischief and witty words, but in that moment, it was naked.

That night Erindis slept in Lokis' arms. When she awoke he was gone and there was a note left where he had slept.

_Dearest, sweetest, loveliest Apprentice,,_

_I have gone to Jotunheim- no, not to plot with the Frost Giants… I have convinced Thor to allow me to undertake a peacemaking mission. I must right some of the damage I have caused. You needn't worry. I shall be back by late afternoon. I'm sure we can find some activity with which to busy ourselves with when I return… _

_Love,_

_Loki_

Erindis clutched the letter to her heart the way women did in novels and fell back into the pillows. Had she not had the evidence in her hand, she would not have believed last night had taken place.

Loki shivered. Jotunheim was a shock to the system after a night spent in a warm bed entwined with his lover. He knew he was being watched by hundreds of eyes as he made his way up the path toward Loafeys' castle. They had been anticipating his arrival ever since Odin left. Loki was not about to disappoint.

As the massive doors of the Castle ground open Loki glimpsed King Loafey, perched high on his throne in an icy enclave along with a vast assembly of Frost Giants. They were always all men. (Where were all the frost giantesses anyway? Loki wondered. Did they spend all day holed up in their ice castles, raising frost babies and slaving over freezers?) As he walked toward the assembly, Loki regarded the several frozen Asgardian Warrior 'sculptures' lining the Foyer. "Charming," he said.

"It is a modest collection," said Loafey, "I would very much like to update it with some new _Princely _peices. You know, you would go rather nicely with the walls, and I imagine the ice would bring out the green of your eyes."

"You wouldn't do kill me," said Loki with confidence, "for then how would hope to get your new Relic?"

Loafey was silenced. He leaned forward on his throne. "What have you come here for, Spawn of Odin?"

"I have come to make you an offer," said Loki. "You and I have our enemies in common King Loafey, and I have found that that is a great deal to have in common."

Loafey narrowed his terrible red eyes. "What do you propose?"

"I have built you a new Frost Relic."

"_Can_ _you do such a thing_?" questioned Loafey, leaning forward on his throne. His mouth was practically watering. Loki could tell Loafey wanted it to be true so badly, it wouldn't take much to convince him.

"You know that I can," said Loki impassively, "my father has already spoken with you."

Loafey grinned. _Clever, _this little Prince was… "And you would do this for me?"

Loki smiled magnanimously, "Nothing would make me happier."

"And tell me, Little Prince, what must I grant you in return you're your generosity?"

"Your alliance."

Had Loafey had eyebrows, now is when he would have raised them. "You offer such a bargain?"

"O I'm practically _giving it away_…" said Loki, his eyes flashing.

"And what exactly would an '_alliance_' between us entail?"

"I'm glad you should ask," said Loki happily "I don't know if you are aware, but we're having _a little party_ at the Palace this Thursday. I was rather hoping that you might drop by..."

"The Birthday of Thor."

"How well informed you are King Loafey," marvelled Loki. "I wonder if you might also be aware that Odin has fallen into an Odinsleep."

Loafeys' mouth curled with scorn, "The 'All Father' needs his beauty rest…"

_As I see you clearly don't, _thought Loki before continuing, "My brother rules as King in his absence."

"To your displeasure…"

"To my HORROR."

"And you want me to show up to this event-"

"I want you to STORM this event," corrected Loki, "You Jotens are very good at theatrics, what with your snow blowing and ice sculpting." (Loafey's mouth twitched at this.) "I want you to _make them afraid_," said Loki very serious now."I want you to inspire terror in the heart of every Asgardian in that audience. I want you to fill every guest, every statesmen, every citizen, every father and mother with fear for their realm. I want you to announce that you have in your posession a NEW Relic of power. You will say it is more powerful than any weapon in the wars of yore. You will announce your intention to invade Asgard; to blanket its ruins in ice and eternal night and claim your throne as the ruler of the universe."

"Sounds like quite a plan," said Loafey. _Is this boy a Sorcerer or a mind reader? _

"Of course, the Councillors, and Yours Truly, will want to negotiate with you."

"Naturally."

"Another war between our peoples would be costly for both sides, as I'm sure you'd agree…"

"Of course."

"Therefore, you will agree to forgo war, on one condition."

"O? What condition is that?" asked Loafey, his eyes widening in amusement.

"The condition upon which the truce between Jotenheim and Asgard is contingent, will be the disthronement and exile of Thor."

Loafey smiled, "What do I have against Thor?" he asked in mock surprise.

"You don't trust him. You know his ways. You fear he will try to invade Jotenheim. You fear for the safety of your entire race."

Loafey glared at his guest. How perfectly monstrous this little Prince was! How conniving! How consummately cold-blooded! Even Loafey had to marvel at the sheer virtuosity of his _badness_. Justice could not have granted Odin a more deserved son. Of course the bastard couldn't be trusted. Of course Loafey planned to do away with him eventually, once he had received his Relic. But first he would lull this demon into a false comfort by making the desired truce. _Yes, the viper will see his brother exiled and live to be King… for a day. _"And after this _performance_, you will give me the Frost Relic?"

"Of course."

"How do I know that you will give it to me, when the time comes?"

"I may not be a man of honour," said Loki, "but I am a man of my word."

"_A_ _great many words,_ if your reputation is to be believed."

Loki laughed. "Unfortunately, one must polish a lot of egos at the court of Asgard. That is one of the things that makes it the sty that it is." Loafey smiled in approval of that sentiment, but Loki could tell he was still trying to gage him. "That is why I would strive to bring reform as King!" said Loki exuberantly. "There will be no bootlicking in my government. There will be no vainglorious warriors, admiring their reflections in each others' armour. There will be no Nepotism!"

_Says the son of a King, _Loafey thought to himself."I agree to your terms," he said.

"How beneficial for us both," beamed Loki. 

"You will be able to grant me and my men safe passage into Asgard?"

Loki grinned, "I have so many tricks up my sleeve in that department, it's a wonder I can retain my balance."

"Then it is agreed."

"It is agreed."

Loki braced himself against the lashing winds outside Loafeys' castle. The buzz of his success buttressed him against the cold. He had done it. He had secured Thors' downfall. The plan was set. That arrogant brute would be brought down before a sea of spectators and Asgard would be spared the incompetence of his rule. And on _his birthday _of all days! It was enough to make him feel sorry for his brother. But it had to be done. Thors' immaturity and hunger for battle was a danger to the realm. Even Odin could see that. Even Odin would be relieved. _Surely._

Loki grinned, how ironic it was that Loafey, King of the Frost Giants would be the one to save Asgard from ruin.

_How disappointed that overgrown blue goblin will be when he discovers his precious new Relic is a fake._

The truth was that Loki never once entertained the idea of building a _real _Relic of Power for Jotenheim. That would have been madness! He may as well have burned Asgard to the ground himself. What Loki had done was build a facsimile of a Frost Relic, a perfect replica. He had fashioned it after many months of research, with the tools of sorcery. What Loki had in his secret chamber was blue and cold and glowed but it probably couldn't even kill a mule. Artifice: it was the most important weapon in the arsenal of mischief and Loki wielded it like a broad sword. The Solar Palio Race may have been designed as a pagent for Thor, but it would be a triumph for Loki.

There was just one teeny tiny nagging little concern that was boring its way through his mind: what would Erindis think? How would she react to his out and out treason? To the fact that he had lied yet again, now that she thought all their secrets were out in the open? Could she still look at him with love in her eyes after she witnessed his betrayal of his brother? What would she do, sit beside him on a throne won by deceit? _Surely she could be made to understand eventually, _thought Loki, _surely she will come to see that it was all done for the greater good… _But he knew, instinctively, that it wasn't going to fly; Erindis just didn't _roll that way. _Was his plan worth losing her for? 

Loki resented that he would even worry about this. He resented the fact that he might, even for a second, question his priorities. How many months had he worked on his plan? Then she comes along, _his Apprentice, _and turns everything in his life upside down! Loki was starting to notice little changes in himself already. Lying was not as easy for him as it had been before. O, he was still just as good at it; but now it _cost_ him more. He felt himself losing his appetite for manipulation; which alarmed him because he had assumed that it would remain wafting and bottomless forever. Loki had never felt himself to be in harmony with the world around him. That was part of what had drawn him to sorcery: it was a way of subverting order. He didn't have to blindly accept anything; nature and society could be made malleable in his hands. But now that he was love, Loki found himself to be, disturbingly, a little bit in love with the _world_ as well. He couldn't help it! _She_ coloured everything! She blazed over his whole life. He smiled when he had no reason to. He joyed in dimples and soil and stars and cutlery and birdsong. It was infuriating! His focus would be carried away in an instant by the remembrance of a smile or a kiss or a gesture. Everywhere he went his mind was beset by her. She appeared and disappeared at every corner. She shone on every surface. Before, his time had been his own. Now, every hour of his day was a story _about her. _The God of Mischief thrived on intrigue and malice. What would he become now? A content old man? What would he feed on? _Erindis. _He smiled at the thought then cursed himself. No! He would not become loves pin cushion! He would not let this be his undoing! If he needed to, he would be THRICE as diabolical as before! He would commit acts beyond redemption! There was not a love in this whole realm that could seep through his pores and make him a better man. This Loki promised himself, as he was catapulted home by the Bifrost.


	12. Chapter 12

**Much love and thanks! You guys rock my world :D Hope you like the next chapter. **

**I do not own any of the Marvel characters.**

Chapter 12: _The Art of Shape Shifting at the Dawn of the 21__st__ Century_

How much time could two people spend in a bed and not get bored?

Centuries…

Eons…

Geological time.

In feeding their appetites for each other, Loki and Erindis only amplified them. Each kiss was a revelation; an invitation to go deeper, a herald of discovery for a new and ingenious country, one that demanded exploration and conquest. Erindis was a determined pupil. Loki was generous.

At times it felt as though she were discovering new parts her own body beneath his touch. Sometimes she felt as though she couldn't take it, what he was doing; as if her orgasm would somehow bring about the completion of experience as she knew it, as if everything in life had been rushing towards this final explosive cataclysm! But Erindis survived. She always did. And in her post-cataclysmic state she was always eager to return the favour. She couldn't believe the groans she elicited from him; the way she made him squirm. The way he called her name, "_Erindis!" _

"How is the silver tongue doing?" asked Erindis. Lokis was lying with his head resting on her stomach after a particularly vigorous session of…

"The silver tongue is in tact but the jaw may be out of commission for a few hours…" he answered. Both were clearly exhausted from their sexual congress and it was not yet dinner.

"Erindis," said Loki after a long while, "you are _obviously _a very keen student…" Erindis giggled. "Have you been disappointed by the amount of learning you have acquired during your stay here?"

Erindis blinked at the question. Aside from spying on him, she had learned a little more about potions, also some theory and she was confident she could write a treatise on coitus. "No."

"I don't mean _that kind of learning_."

Erindis thought for a moment. She remembered the excitement she had felt when she had thought about all that '_Loki_' would teach be able to her. "I suppose there are some things… I would be interested in… if you wanted to…"

Loki raised his head up from her lap and grinned at her, "Why didn't you say so?"

"I don't know… I mean you haven't exactly been _friendly…_"

"We're _not friends, _Erindis," he said, smouldering her with his eyes, "don't you forget that."

"I know," she said teasingly, "I wouldn't want to be friends with someone who did what you did…" Their mouths met and wrestled for dominance.

"If you really want to learn," whispered Loki when they had parted, "you'll have to do what I say."

"Yes Sir," said Erindis jokingly.

Loki raised an eyebrow, "Who are you calling Sir?" With that he leaned back and closed his eyes.

_POP!_

Erandis gasped. There, reclining before her on the tousled sheets was the splitting image of herself, stark naked.

"You BEAST!" she exclaimed, hitting her own knee and raising the covers to her eyes.

Her doppelganger laughed, "If that's what you'd prefer…" Fake Erindis' eyes closed and with another _POP! _Erindis found herself face to face with an enormous lion. "STOP IT LOKI!" she yelled. With one last _POP! _her grinning, emerald eyed lover was restored to her. Erindis wacked his head with a pillow.

"Such violence," laughed Loki, "can only stem from ignorance."

"They don't teach that in the Academy."

"Well you're in _my_ Academy now Darling," he said gazing over her bare torso, "I see you're already wearing the uniform…"

Some time later, by the torch light of the Main Room, Loki had turned, without shape shifting, into the strictest instructor Erindis had ever had.

"Concentrate!" Loki commanded. Didn't he know how hard that was to do when he was around? "They still aren't instilling any real discipline at that Academy I see…"

Erindis had been staring at the same scrap of tree bark for what seemed like hours. Her eyes were beginning to hurt. When she closed them she saw little pieces of tree bark everywhere, dancing like flames, taunting her. "It's difficult!" she protested.

"It is not _difficult_!" shot back Loki, "what it is,is _demanding._ You will never succeed until you apply your whole self to the act. Your focus must be streamlined. Your mind and your senses must not be allowed to wander."

Erindis looked at the tree bark. All she felt was frustration. Nothing was worse than expecting to be a good at a thing and finding oneself failing miserably at it. The bark wasn't even an animate object, how could she ever hope to progress to animals and people?

"You weren't expecting it to be easy were you?" questioned Loki.

"No," said Erindis, even though that wasn't quite true. Deep down, she _had_ expected it to be easy, _for her. _But it wasn't easy. Not by along shot.

"Stop trying so hard to _become_," said Loki, "just look at the object; feel and _be._" Erindis exhaled in frustration. She knew a paradox when she smelled one.

"But how can I do it if I don't try?" she demanded, hoping not to sound like she was whining.

"Do you _try _to breathe?"

_Sometimes, when you're around. _"No."

"Well then, stop straining yourself. Stop thinking. Just look at the object, sense it, breathe it in, _be_ it."

"I am!"

Loki brought his finger beneath Erindis' chin and turned her head towards him. "What colour is it?"

"Brown," said Erindis, distracted by the spell and smell of Loki.

"Wrong!" shouted Loki, "Look again!"

Erindis looked at the bark. It was brown, but also black and grey and had little flecks of green moss dotting sections of it. "I see your point."

"Look at the texture," said Loki, turning her around to face the tree bark again and coming up close behind her ear. Erindis felt her knees buckle slightly. She couldn't help falling into him a little. "See the spots carved by age. See the rough patches," he ordered.

"I see them," said Erindis, but her eyes were now closing as she leaned back into Loki. Her brow flushed as in a fever.

"Imagine those spots on your skin. Feel yourself hardening…" _She could feel him hardening._ "Now," said Loki, "close your eyes. Picture the bark. Picture the spots. Picture the roughness… Fall into that feeling." Then he suddenly moved away from Erindis and she nearly fell over.

"You weren't concentrating," he said with a wry smile.

"That was a dirty trick!" yelled Erindis, "You were trying to distract me!"

"Obviously," purred Loki, "And it proved disappointingly easy."

"Well, don't do it then and let me get on with it!"

"Do you think there won't be distractions everywhere you go Darling?"

_Not like you. _"No," Erindis conceded.

"Then you must learn to be able to stop and still your mind anywhere. A sorcerers' mind must be impenetrable to distraction."

Loki was right of course. Erindis knew that, she was no amateur. What was distressing was how easily she had allowed herself to forget it. Loki had such a power to mottle her brain. What else was he making her forget? _Everything,_ whispered a frightened voice inside her_._

"I see I'm not exactly helping you right now," sighed Loki. Then he grabbed large, leather bound _beast _of a book from the table."I've outlined some sections in this book, which I think you might find useful."

Erindis looked at the book,

_The Art of Shapeshifting at the Dawn of the 21__st__ Century_

_Writings compiled by Elfr 'Bolt' Norikssen with foreward by Brunhilda _

She was touched, "You didn't have to do that," she said. She knew she was being silly as she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard.

"What does it even mean when people say that?" mumbled Loki.

"It means they're grateful, and they'll show you just much later tonight…"

Loki grinned devilishly. "I must leave you now Darling," he said, bending to catch her lips with his. "Thor needs help deciding on some _important _matters. I shall be back by banquet hour"

"Tell Thor the red goes best with his armour," joked Erindis.

Lokis' eyes widened, "Will you listen to that sabor toothed tongue of hers! Perhaps there is hope for you yet my Love."

"You are rubbing off on me in the wickedest ways Sir," said Erindis coyly.

"I should hope so," said Loki before kissing her one last time.

Erindis tried to sigh out all her butterflies. She had to concentrate, she told herself. She wasn't going to be much good to anyone in this state. How did other people do it? She wondered. _How do other people compartmentalize love_? Was there a little pocket she could slip Loki into when she needed to be a serious, studious person? Perhaps one day she might conjure up just such an object, _a tool of forgetting_.

Erindis looked down at a page Loki had marked for her in the book. For a moment the lines of his pen were more interesting to her than the text itself. _Concentrate. _She had never resisted knowledge before and she wasn't going start today. 

_Chapter 21: On Inhabiting the World as a 'Foreign' Object_

_When looking at the world and the objects within it, one must remember that all matter is changing and recyclable. Everything, including our very own bodies, is in a constant state of flux. You yourself do not remain the same for two moments together! Imagine that! The particles that make up 'you' are the same as those that make up all matter. The material of your body is made from the remnants of stars and has a history older than your own consciousness. You are a clump of material in space that is temporarily self aware. You have the perception of being __**apart **__from everything around you, but in truth you are one with it. As such you have the power to become anything: A toad. A dog. A flower. A blade of grass. Another person. But this is only achieved through concentration and practice. First you must be able to look at an object and sense it, really take it in. _

_Start with a piece of bark. Look carefully at it. Examine its shape. Examine its texture. How would it feel like to be within that bark? _

_**Think of this piece of bark as the pouch your soul must crawl into and keep itself alive in. **_

Erindis looked up. Suddenly it made sense to her. She looked at the bark Loki had left on the table for her. She imagined his fingerprints on it. How was it like to be handled by Loki as a piece of bark? She imagined how long it had been alive before a silver axe finally hacked it. She imagined being enclosed in a forest; growing from a sprout, not being able to see the sky from the branches above. She imagined an army of ants crawling up her side. She imagined a wood pecker boring into her with its determined beak. She imagined being besieged by a flowering fungus. She imaged time, deep pools of it. A lifetime was nothing in relation to her. Days and Nights were nothing. She was blind. She fed on sunlight but she couldn't see it. She could only feel. She could feel the wet and the moss it invited. She could feel her roots spreading deep into the ground. She could feel the vibrations of the forest. She felt herself surrounded not only by parents and grandparents and great grandparents but _ancestors. _And she was one as well. She sprayed the hungry ground with seeds. The squirrels ate some, she knew. The beetles carried off some. And the greedy badgers. But some survived, some grew up beside her. There was a colony of owls in her branches. She felt their wings beat against her as they came and went, generations. Then one day, the axe. Erindis closed her eyes. There was feeling. There was life. Then there was nothing. She was a fraction. A memento. A reminder of a tree. Nothing remained. Nothing but Lokis' fingerprints. Erindis bent her knees and leaned forward, she breathed in and exhaled.

_POP!_

She regarded the room as a piece of bark. It was a library for giants. She had done it!

Erindis had never felt more exhilarated in her life! She sat back in her chair when she had regained her human form. The feeling swelling inside of her could not be accommodated by words. For the first time, in a long time, Erindis was in awe of her craft. She had forgotten the realms sorcery could take her. She had forgotten how overwhelmingly much she still had to learn. She couldn't wait to tell Loki.

_Loki. _She sighed. He could do such things in his sleep… Erindis could not help feeling a little twinge of envy at this. Since they had spent so many hours locked in passion she had began thinking of him as Loki: _her lover,_ instead of Loki: the God of Mischief and the most cunning sorcerer in existence. Erindis suddenly felt uneasy. She began to question…Why had Loki decided to start teaching her now? Why was she suddenly a _real_ apprentice? Why was he sharing his most jealously guarded tricks with her? She couldn't help worrying, in that deep untrusting compartment of her mind, that he might be trying to distract her from something else… _But surely sex would be enough of a distraction_, she told herself. Was it so hard to believe that Loki recognized her talent and wanted to help her develop it? Was it so hard to think that it was something he felt compelled to do, _for the person he loved_?

Damn it!Why couldn't she just let herself be happy? Erindis had gotten into the habit of doing without happiness, and it was proving difficult to shake. It killed her, admitting that even now, she still couldn't trust Loki. Her stomach was in knots by the time she headed to the Banquet hall.

Loki told himself he wasn't teaching her out of guilt. Why should he feel guilty about doing _what was necessary_? Necessity: that was the burrow in which he had buried his conscience. He didn't want to think he was teaching Erindis to repay her for the betrayal he would soon commit. He had to hold strong to his plan, even if her every glance was an invitation, _a plea,_ to deviate. _The girl has a right to learn something_, he told himself, _for all her past and future pains… _And she couldn't watch him if she was busy practicing, she couldn't butt her exquisite nose into his business.

"Well," Thor asked his brother, "did your trip to Jotunheim go well?"

"The Frost Giants are _deeply _repentant," said Loki, "they won't be bothering us again."

"Really?" Thor seemed disappointed.

"I am certain."

"Well, I guess we can move on to planning the Solar Palio in peace then."

'_Peace', _how clumsily the word tripped off his warriors tongue. Loki knew he was doing right. "Yes," he said with the smile of a wolf, "we shall make sure you have the best birthday ever Brother."


	13. Chapter 13

**Please forgive me for being so late to update. I have been swamped with assignments this all week. Thank you so much for reading my work, I appreciate it more than you know. I hope this next chapter is ok and I promise I will not take so long to update again. Much love :D **

**I don't own any of the Marvel characters.**

Chapter 13: The Changing Face

Frigga was uncertain about the girl. She had smart eyes and a quiet manner that belied the one indisputable fact that Frigga knew of her: that she was a prodigiously skilled Sorceress. Odins' wife had been looking hard at Erindis all through banquet. The girl wore a simple grey dress that showed off the bare silk of her shoulders. She was gazing up at Loki with a smile that seemed unaware of and unconcerned with its own loveliness. Her cheeks were the colour of the Eastern sky. Observing her, Frigga found herself wondering why Odin hadn't recruited someone a little more… a little more… a little_ less pretty_ to spy on Loki. Frigga loved her stepson like he was her own. And even though, like Odin, she suspected that he had a propensity toward scheming, she considered this choice of spy to be a bit cruel. Had her husband not foreseen the _entirely predictable _scenario of two attractive young people living in proximate quarters caving into a mutual desire? _Honestly! One would think after thousands of years that he may have mastered the fundamentals of mans primitive nature! _It was as clear to Frigga as daylight what was going on between the two of them. The instant she saw them together, she knew, in her marrow, that they had become lovers. The girl needn't have bothered using sorcery to cover up what was probably a rather extensive collection of love bites on her neck; her face and body language betrayed everything. Even Loki, who had always been the paragon of inscrutability, had sailed through the room with the young lady on his arm and a suggestive look on his face. It confirmed what Frigga had feared the most: that her darling stepson was, for all intents and purposes, smitten with a spy.

A spy who knew something she shouldn't.

Days ago Odin had come to Frigga in their private chambers with his face carved in anguish. "Forgive me Frigga," he said, "I have broken the pact we made many years ago…" He told her that he had revealed the truth of Lokis parentage to his 'Apprentice'. He said he had thought it necessary, "should anything happen" to him in those next few trying days… Frigga hadn't understood what he meant. "Loki has stolen something from the Frost Giants," began his cryptic explanation, "I fear he may be planning something potentially catastrophic." _Her little boy?_ Odin was more visibly stressed than she had seen him since the wars. "Remember how you and I once hoped that Loki would be the one to bring about a union of peace between Jotunheim and Asgard?"

"That was folly," Frigga whispered, "we were fools."

"Well, it may yet come to folly my Sweet," said Odin. "If I should fall into the Odinsleep-"

"But you shan't my love! You shan't-"

Odin brought a finger to her lips to silence her."_If _I should fall into the Odinsleep in these next few days, I fear Thor may start another war with the Frost Giants. If this happens we will need all the support we can make him hange his mind…"

"You think this girl, this _Erindis, _knowing about Loki will help?"

"I don't know my dear," sighed Odin, "I admit it is a flawed plan… from a flawed old man…"

"I shan't hear you talk like that my Love, you are the Master of the Universe and I shan't hear you talk like that!" said Frigga toughly.

"If you insist my Darling, I will do as you say."

So now Loki was in love with a Spy who knew he was a Frost Giant. Frigga regarded the new two of them_. _Did Erindis genuinely feel for him, even when she knew what he really was? _Was it possible? Could any girl love the monster of childrens' nightmares?_ The mother in Frigga worried. What if she was using Loki? An enterprising young woman from the provinces and a prince, the conclusions practically drew themselves... Or worse: what if Erindis really did love Loki and eventually found she couldn't stand to lie to him any longer? What if she told him Frigga and Odins secret? It would destroy him, of that Frigga was certain. She looked once again across the table at her son, he was laughing aloud at something the girl had said. He lovingly stroked some hair off her face. _He must never know, not if it can be helped. _

Erindis had never felt more self conscious than that first night at banquet as _a couple. _Who knew that Loki would be so obvious in his affections? His hand was never far from her knee or her hip, or the small of her back or holding her own. He kissed her cheek in full view of EVERYONE. Could he not see how many eyes were trained on them? Did he not care? Even as she revelled in his affections, Erindis squirmed under the subtle scrutiny of those around her. Never had so many eyes seemed outfitted with lasers that could zap through her and vaporize any shred of confidence (along with her kidneys). Up and down her those eyes went, then up again, in case they had missed something the first time round, then down again, because it _still wasn't clear. _She could feel them wondering. She could feel the question mark hovering like a cloud above her head. '_What was the attraction?' _They weren't '_being mean', _they just wanted to '_know'… _'_This?' _Erindis imagined them thinking, '_this is the turnip that Loki lavishes his attention upon?' _Sometimes she was a turnip and sometimes she was a troll, they alternated in Erindis' mind. But nothing was worse than when Freyja came over. She seemed to be the only one oblivious to Lokis' manner toward Erindis. She tilted her head to one side and fingered the base of her neck as if she were anointing the spot with perfume. Hers was type of skin that didn't merely demand to be looked, but _licked_ as well. She batted her eye lashes at Loki as she chattered at length about horses. "You must sit beside me at the Palio this week Loki," she purred, "I shall be ever so lonely sitting in that gold box in the sky all by myself."

"My dear Lady," said Loki evenly, "I have never once seen you all by yourself, and I patrol this court regularly, in many guises."

Freyja laughed. It was a laughter as clear as the laughter of water. "I cannot hide anything from you, my clever Loki! Not even my popularity!" she cried. "You have found me out! I can't help it: a social butterfly cannot hide her wings so well as a moth," with this she cast a subtle scathing look at Erindis.

"No she cannot," agreed Loki, "even under the cloak of night, she is seen flitting from chamber to chamber, attending to _every _flower. So great is her _popularity_ and her _demand. _" Erindis blinked. Did he just imply what she thought he implied?

Freyja laughed again then leaned in seductively, "Why then surely I, being such a popular little butterfly, may reserve the right to select whose company I like best, _the flower I am must eager to attend… The bedchamber I am most eager to visit best…_"

Erindnis gaped at Freyja. The way she stared at Loki with those spectacular blue eyes, the way she arched her back and tilted her chin downward… The way she wound a stray flame coloured curl round her finger… Erindis wasn't sure whether she wanted to smack Freyja and tell her that _damn it, that flower has already de-flowered another flower! _Or grab the little harlot and ravish her _herself_! Damn. Freyja. Had. Game. Yet Loki seemed unmoved. "Butterflies are fickle," he said.

"Better a fickle butterfly than a pestilent moth," said Freyja, looking at Erindis.

"I thought you hated all insects," said Erindis, hoping her voice didn't crack, "I had no idea you made such distinctions. Or that you gave them little personalities. Really, Lady Freyja you are quite the entomologist."

Freyja looked indignant at Erindis' daring to speak to her. "I am no expert, but I can recognize a _creepy crawly_ thing when I see it," she said, glaring at Erindis suggestively.

"I imagine you can," said Erindis, trying to keep her calm.

"I can. Even if Loki can't," said Freyja with naked scorn.

Erindis suddenly felt it snap: the little blue nerve inside her that she always had to guard. The nerve that made anger and sorcery blend together in one blinding uncontrollable impulse… All of the sudden, Freyja jumped up in fright. She screamed so loud the entire banquet hall stopped to see what was happening. Freyja screamed again and patted down her chest manicly. She whirled around the room, shaking her skirt and her shoulders. "Get it off! Get it off!" she yelled. Then she swung her head forward and shook the firey mass of her hair. The entire banquet hall stood agape. It was like witnessing the dance of a jellyfish. Only after a few minutes did the she finally stop. "IS IT GONE?" she demanded of her audience.

"Is what gone my Lady?" only Fandral had the nerve to ask.

"THE SPIDER!"

It was at this moment that Loki buried his face behind Erindis' cheek to stifle a laugh. She felt his face shake against hers. Erindis forced herself to think of very sad things to keep from cracking herself. A few other people in the hall snickered. Even Frigga, the model of dignity and decorum smiled into her goblet of wine.

"You are becoming positively _evil _my Darling," Loki praised her as they entered his chambers.

"It was an accident!"

"Do you really believe in accidents when it comes to behaviour?"

"It's better than to believe the alternative…"

Loki smiled as he pushed her against the wall and kissed her. "I've been wanting to do that all evening," he said in a voice of silk.

"You were being very _obvious _all throughout dinner," said Erindis.

"Obvious?" Loki furrowed his eyebrows as if making a vain attempt to understand.

"You know what I mean!" cried Erindis, tugging at his earlobe.

"I know I thought about making love to you hanging from the chandelier, but I don't remember _actually doing it_…"

"People were staring. They're going to talk…"

"Talk? Isn't that what people generally do: talk, often and with little wit?"

"It doesn't bother you, if people know about us?"

"No. Does it bother you?"

"No, of course not… I mean…Why would it?" Erindis wasn't sure if it bothered her. She thought about Odin, what would he think? What would anyone think if they knew why she had really come here?

"Are you worried people might think you're a talentless little provincial upstart who used her feminine wiles to seduce a Prince of the realm and become his personal tart?" Erindis frowned. There was that too.

"Don't worry," said Loki, "I know it's not true…"

"Thanks," said Erindis sarcastically.

"You're a _very_ talented little provincial upstart who used her feminine wiles to-"

"Why you!" Erindis jumped on Loki in mock fury.

"Only kidding darling!" laughed Loki, overpowering her as her fists pounded his chest.

_He will be punished for his cheek_, Erindis thought to herself as Loki carried her over his shoulder into the bedroom.

Some hours later, sealed in Lokis arms in the dead of night, Erindis had a strange dream:

_She was walking along the pearl coloured beach of her childhood. The sand was hot between her toes. She could hear above her, over the hill, the long native grass as it swayed and the bleating of sheep from her familys farm. Somehow Erindis knew in the dream that her mother was alive. Yet she couldn't be seen. In the distance Erindis could see a cloaked rider coming towards her. His horse had eight legs and his mane seemed to float in the air. When at last the rider came upon her he stopped and dismounted. It was Odin. But not Odin. A younger Odin. His face was not quite so lined and his hair more gold than silver. Erindis thought he would have looked very like Thor, if it hadn't been for the eye patch. "What are you doing here All Father?" Erindis asked. _

"_I come to you here because I cannot come to you in anywhere else," he said. His voice sounded different in the dream, loud, but also strangely distant, like a bad connection._

"_I am dreaming," Erindis said. It was a passionless statement, not even a realization. _

"_Yes," said Odin, "and, in a way, so am I."_

_A violet crab skittered across the sand at Erindis' feet. _

"_Are you really talking to me?" she asked, "from your Odinsleep?"_

"_No," said Odin sadly, "but you must still listen to me.." Odins' face was having trouble remaining Odins face. His features kept changing. "You cannot trust him."_

"_Loki?"_

"_The day after tomorrow. The Solar Palio. Thors birthday," the changing Odin said. He said it as if it were a list. _

"_What about it?" _

_Suddenly Odin changed into Erindis herself. Her hair was down and she had a wreathe of foxgloves on her head. For a split second Erindis didn't recognize herself and thought how pretty she looked. "Don't you think he's planning something to get rid of Thor?" the other Erindis asked her. Erindis didn't answer. "Of course you do. Of course you know. You have known for a long time and still you let yourself…"_

"_I love him!" Erindis protested._

"_Love. Yes. I know. But what is that little love of yours in comparison to the dangers threatening all of Asgard?" Erindis didn't say anything back. Her doppelganger looked at her, with ferocity but not anger. "What difference would it make, that little love of yours, if this realm should fall? What good is that little love of yours if it costs even one Asgardian his life?" Erindis wished it was her life alone that was in danger. Her doppelganger seemed to hear her thoughts, "I know you do, but that is not how it works. You have abandoned her mission to feed the needs of your own heart. You think Loki cares for you more than he wants the throne of Asgard? He would cast you into the wilderness to sit upon that chair! He would throw you to a family of lions; he would sell you to a Prince of Vanaheim, he would let you fall into a frothing river and watch as her brains werebashed by the rocks!"_

"_Enough!" Erindis cried. But her double showed no mercy._

"_If any catastrophe should befall this Kingdom, it is __**you **__who____will be guilty. You as much as Loki." Erindis started to cry. It was her dream so she could cry buckets if she wanted and no one was going to see. "It's not your fault," her counterpart told her more gently, "love brings blindness to its slaves."_

"_What must I do?" wept Erindis._

"_You must find out what Loki is planning, and stop him."_

"_How?" _

"_Use everything." Then the other Erindis leaned forward and with a POP! and became an owl. Then another POP! and she was an orange fox. With one final POP! she became Erindis again, "Use everything you know."_

Erindis woke up from the dream drenched in cold sweat and sat up, startled. She could feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She had woken up Loki and he sat up to see what was wrong. He put his hand on her shoulder. Erindis flinched at the touch. She moved away from him in terror.

"It's me," said Loki, "it's only me. You were having a nightmare."

Erindis allowed herself to calm down as he put his arms around her and drew her to himself. He kissed her forehead, "You were dreaming Love. You were only dreaming." Erindis laughed in nervous relief. But she was only partially relieved. All night she tried to sleep but in her mind she heard the same words over and over again: "_Love brings blindness to its slaves."_ Had she allowed herself to forget Lokis' true nature? If she had, the memory of it was coming back to her now, as sharp and shocking as an axe to her heart.

The next morning was it was the day of the Palio Ball. It took place every year on the eve of the Solar Palio and was attended by every noblemen in the Kingdom. For days it had been all anybody in the palace could talk about (well that and Lokis new 'mistress'). Enormous flying coaches carrying silks and fireworks and jewels arrived every hour at the Palace gates. The halls were filled with the whir and chatter of pots and looms. An appetizing wind wafted through doors of the kitchens (in front of which Volstagg had stationed himself from the wee hours of the morning, offering to 'help', 'sample' and 'carry dishes'). Dignitaries arrived in ivory carriages bedecked in pearls the size of chickens. Erindis recognized them to be from Vanaheim. No warriors practiced combat outside her window that morning. Erindis supposed that even they were being primped and pampered for the big night. She imagined Thor reclining in a bubble bath with little curlers in his hair. Had she not been so stressed, she might have giggled. Over the past few days Erindis had wasted hours doing all the things she'd always imagined women did to prepare themselves for their lovers. She had rubbed an ordinate amount of lotion on her skin; she had brushed her hair for longer that it is necessary to brush ones hair. She had regarded herself in the mirror and saw that her skin looked as polished as new armour, but she couldn't sit down anywhere because she didn't want the lotion to stain. She had wondered about Freyja. This must have been her daily routine. But them she thought better of it, _Freja's hair is probably brushed by a team of little birds_.How much energy had Erindis wasted in the pursuit of being _kissable _and _womanly_? Now she looked back on yesterdays' self as a fool. Loki wouldn't have cared anyway, as he seemed to like her just as well when she was covered in goo from the lab. (Also, he was PLOTTING AGAINST THE REALM.) Erindis sighed, why did they always go so horribly wrong, her forays into becoming a lust object?

Loki was gone. He left a note saying he was going to help with some preparations for the ball. Erindis guessed his activites had nothing to do with centrepieces. She was certain now that he used sorcery to get out without waking her. She smiled at the absurdity of it: she couldn't even trust him in her sleep.

_Never mind all that_, she said to herself, she was going to use this morning well. Erindis grabbed the book Loki had given her, _The Art of Shapeshifting in the Dawn of the 21__st__ Century_. He had highlighted all the most helpful parts, not thinking she would ever use the knowledge against him. _Is that how incompetent he thinks I am? _He must have thought she was no threat at all_… _For a moment her heart lurched. Did he really think so low of her? Erindis shook her head, _Bastard. _She was going to prove him wrong. For once, she was going to beat him at his own game. He had shown her the door and she was going to astound him by picking the lock.

Loki didn't like being in Jotunheim. He didn't like how comfortable he had begun to feel here. He didn't like how tolerable he secretly found the cold. He didn't like how harmoniously he worked with a trio of Frost Giant scientists. They were helping him set up the temporary wormhole that was to open up at five o'clock pm tomorrow on and lead from Jotunheim the centre of the Palio arena in Asgard. Their names were Tigor, Jord and Gilgos and they were Jotunheims finest. Their grasp of physics was impressive. They seemed to be more disciplined than their pampered Asgardian counterparts. And they had less ego, these Frost Giant workers. They were scientists doing what they loved, they just weren't as lucky as Asgardians. Their Kingdom had fallen and they were stuck in the dark ages, literally and figuratively. They were overlooked by their society, which placed less importance on the advancement of science for its own sake, than it did on the advancement of tools of war. Loki sympathized with these Gigantic men carrying on with their math and test tubes. He could have just as easily been born one of them, and then what? Fate was mean.

Just as Loki was contemplating the injustice of the universe, Laufey strode into the lab. "Is the wormhole passage ready?"

"We are just putting the finishing touches on the Quantum Refining Ray your Majesty," said Jord, "it is set to go off at five pm tomorrow as per Lokis' request."

"And no earlier than that?" said Laufey with a slight grin at Loki, "the little Prince doesn't trust us to go in on our own time?"

"If you come too early, none of us will be dressed properly!" said Loki, "And if you were allowed to operate the worm hole on your own, you might never leave…"

"What a shrewd little King you will make."

"That's the only kind that lives, as you well know."

"Quite."

That afternoon, Laufey watched as Loki disappeared with a streak of light into the black sky above Jotunheim and frowned at the clouds. It was a gamble putting all his trust in Odins turd of a son. He was promised a Frost Relic and he knew Loki was capable of creating one. But would the little scoundrel give it to him when the time came? It would be a shame to be in Asgard and waste the opportunity to kill Odin, but the boy had made it so that he was on a strict time table. Only Loki controlled the wormhole. This would have to change.

"Tigor!" he yelled. A frazzled young Frost Giant scientist appeared.

"Yes your majesty," he said with a deep bow.

"They tell me you are the most talented of your peers," said Laufey glaring at Tigor.

Tigor blushed a bluish purple and looked down, "Well, I don't know Sir… I…"

"Are you or aren't you?" demanded Laufey, "because if you aren't then you are of no use to me and shall be sent to the mines on Vorovheim Prime!"

Tigor gulped, "Yes! Yes!" he said quickly, "I am the best! I am the absolute best Sir, there are none better!"

"Good," said Laufey. "Have you been taking notes based on all of Lokis work here, the way I asked all of you to?"

"Yes Sir."

"And do you think you might be able to study them to figure out how we may open the Wormhole passageway a little earlier than five o'clock tomorrow, say tonight, perhaps, and then close it up again so that Loki will think nothing had happened?"

"What you are asking would be very difficult Sir…" said Tigor rubbing his chin.

"No more difficult than mining, in -100 degree temperatures on a little moon on the outer rim of our solar system?"

"No Sir!" cried Tigor, "I am sure it _can _be done!"

"Good. You have till tonight."

"Yes Sir."

"Very well, you may go now," said Laufey, and then when the young Giant was almost out the door, he called out, in a voice of mirth, "by the way Tigor, _your sister says hello_."

Having successfully shapeshifted into a frog, a leach, a parrot and a gerbil, Erindis felt herself ready for the final frontier:

_Chapter 24: Being Another_

_It is seldom that people think of their own identities as being amorphous. You are born as yourself and see the whole world in relation to who you are. Even if one were able to swap the skin of another person, they would still retain their own mind with their own memories and experiences. Shape shifting, as you may have experienced so far for yourself, does not allow for complete liberation from ones own identity. It is rather, the __**immersion **__of ones identity into that of someone or something else. In order to take on the physical form of another person, you must be able to fully immerse yourself in them. This is why it is easiest to start your human shapeshifting adventure with a person for whom you have strong feelings. If you know them well and have an emotional attachment, you are able to conjure them vividly in your mind and are able to 'slip into' them more easily, as if there were some sort of 'hook' into their character. _

_Exercise 1: Think of a person who is or has been in your life. It should be someone you have a strong feeling of love or hatred for. Now close your eyes and picture that person in your mind. See them clearly. Notice the little details. _

Love or hatred, how about both? Erindis closed her eyes and pictured Loki. It wasn't hard. She saw him often when she closed her eyes; he was like the red spot after staring at a bright light for too long. Loki floated in her minds eye. Absurdly beautiful and pale. He was naked from the waist up. His eyes were an almost alien green. His mouth curved into a taunting smile. Then all of the sudden his expression changed in her mind, he looked at her with love and a hint of something wounded. Then he changed again. He looked like she had never seen him before: his skin was blue and his eyes terrifyingly red. He laughed like a man with a terrible disease laughing at his own horror. Then the image of Loki changed once again, he was sleeping softly beside her, his dark hair fanned against the pillow. She ached to kiss him.

Erindis opened her eyes and read on:

_First imagine the image of that person is in your 'Lrvta' centre (your pelvis). Now imagine the image of that person expanding inside you. Let the image grow, let it sweep over your entire body and radiate through your fingers. Then lean forward and imagine the person you are holding within your body is breathing. Breathe with them. _

Erindis closed her eyes again and imagined Loki filling her whole body. She leaned forward and imagined air flooding in through Lokis nostrils and falling out through his glorious mouth.

_POP!_

Erindis opened her eyes. She surveyed the room from a magnificent height. She looked down at her hands, they were white and strong and familiar. She gasped and heard Loki gasp (what an uncharacteristic sound!) She ran to the mirror in her room and even though she knew what she was going to see in it, she still shook at the sight. Before her stood the God of Mischief with tears staining his cheeks.

At that moment Erindis heard a knock at the door.

_POP!_

Erindis could only hope she had fully regained her own form by the time she opened the door. To her surprise it was Lokis stepmother, Frigga.

"Your Majesty! I-"

"Heavens, have you been crying?" asked Frigga examining her face. Her richly embroidered gold gown swished against the floor as she glided in. Erindis didn't have any trouble believing that, in her heyday, Frigga had been considered the most beautiful woman in any realm. She was still stunning. In her mind, Frigga was_ 'Freyja: The Original Recipe'_.

"No I've just-"

"You're not dressed for the ball!"

Erindis hadn't thought about what she would wear. Was it okay to wear one of her dinner dresses? "Well I was going to-"

"It's exactly as I thought!" said Frigga, "Which is why I have come to deliver you this gown myself." She handed her a heavy gold box.

Erindis was overwhelmed, the _Queen of Asgard_ personally delivering her a dress? She felt like some sort of twisted, post revolutionary, proletariat Cinderella. She was about to sputter out a profusion of thanks when Frigga interrupted her.

"I wouldn't allow my stepson to be seen with a slob on his arm." Frigga looked at Erindis, as if to gage her reaction to this comment. Erindis reddened and looked down. "It was a joke!" said Frigga clutching her shoulder, "You poor girl, it was only a joke." But it wasn't, not _entirely._ "Let's see how it fits on you. If it's a bit off here and there I'm sure you can use your sorceryto fix it." There was a barely perceptible chill in the way she said, '_your sorcery'._

Erindis lifted the lid of the box. There, lying amid the gold lining was a silk dress as red as the dawn. She lifted it up to the light. Unlike most of the gowns worn at court, it was unadorned save for a simple gold coil at the bottom of the fitted, shoulderless bodice. It resembled a snake, much like the ones carved in Lokis bedposts (this association combined with the presence of Frigga made Erindis blush even more) It had rubies for eyes.

"I think it will suit you wonderfully," beamed Frigga.

"I don't know what to say," breathed Erindis.

_As long as you know what __**not**__ to say, _thought Frigga. She looked around as the girl went to change. Every table was littered instruments of science and sorcery. A sea of books lay with their spines facing up next to jars full of curiosities. What was this sorceress doing all by herself? Some assignment of Lokis? Or perhaps some extra curricular activity?

Erindis appeared from the corridor. The dress looked exquisite on her (she couldn't have denied it herself!) It wrapped every curve of her body in flame. Her hair was up and a black pearl hung from each ear (Erindis had grown them herself yesterday, during her 24 hour 'kept woman' phase. Growing black pearls: _this_ had been her priority… She would have destroyed them now if they hadn't been so damn pretty...) Her lips were painted the colour of sea coral. All in all the effect was entrancing.

"My, my," said Frigga, "you _do_ clean up."

"O thank you! Thank you for the dress!" gushed Erindis.

"It's nothing," said Frigga so resolutely that Erindis knew she was barred from saying 'thank you' again. Then a silence fell upon the women. It made Erindis intensely uncomfortable. Frigga didn't seem to mind this and took her time before she finally broached the subject she had _really _come to discuss. "You and Loki are lovers," she said bluntly. Erindis felt as though her face had just been lashed by leather. She didn't know what to say or whether she was even required to say anything. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. "And you are a spy." Another statement of fact. Another stinging lash. "Does Loki know you were the reason Odin went to Jotunheim?"

There were an alarming number of levels to the accusation in the question. Erindis didn't knew where to begin her defence, or whether to begin at all.

"Odin tells me _everything," _said Frigga. "I know why he went to Jotunheim."

_Evidently Loki doesn't tell you everything. _"I didn't tell him to go," Erindis said, "I told him what I found in Lokis' underground chamber."

"And what _did _you find Erindis?"

"A fake Frost Relic. Well, he said it was fake."

"Who?"

"Loki."

This silenced Frigga. She hadn't expected this. She had expected cunning, but not this… "You mean Loki put it there for you to find, _on purpose_?"

"It's his fault this all happened," said Erindis, and it gave her strange satisfaction to say it. "Odin and I were pawns. He wanted Thor to go to Jotunheim. He wanted him to disgrace himself in Odins eyes. It would have worked too, if it weren't for the-"

"Odinsleep," Frigga finished for her. She looked white as a dove. "Forgive me Erindis. I love my son to the point of weakness."

"So do I," said Erindis. She wanted to say '_to the point of ruin', _but she didn't want it to sound like some sort of a 'wronged woman' wailing competition. "When he confessed everything to me, I thought it meant it was over, but now I am not so sure."

Frigga placed her soft jewelled hand on Erindis'. "Do you think he travels to Jotunheim still?"

"He has many ways of getting there. He uses a special potion. He also knows how to make wormholes. He has been gone all day."

"I looked for him all this afternoon," confirmed Frigga, "I couldn't find him anywhere. No one has seen him."

Erindis' looked into Friggas' eyes, "Do you think it is possible he might be aligning himself with the Frost Giants, to oust Thor from the throne?"

"What could Loki offer the Frost Giants in return for their help?"

"A Frost Relic. Real or fake, hopefully fake."

Frigga swallowed hard. She didn't want to believe it.

"I had a dream last night," said Erindis slowly, "that I was talking to someone who first took on the form of Odin and then became a mirror image of myself. They told me 'love brings blindness to its slaves.' When I woke up I knew I couldn't allow myself to be blind anymore, not if it meant other people would get hurt."

Frigga closed her eyes and nodded. "I am his mother," she said in a voice as frail as glass, "I may not have given birth to him, but _I am his mother. _And I am also Thors mother." A tear rolled down her beautiful cheek, "Nature does not place limits on the sorrow of mothers."

Erindis put her arm around the Queen of Asgard. "It isn't too late," she whispered, " But if Loki allows Frost Giants into the Palio tomorrow, Thor will declare war."

Frigga winced. Her darling little Thor. He had become a grown man with an appetite for battle. She knew Erindis was right. It was a dark question to contemplate: which one of her two sons was more dangerous? "Perhaps," whispered Frigga, for she could not bear to say it any more loudly, "if Loki and Laufey knew of his parentage… Or if Thor knew… Perhaps none of them would be as prejudiced. Perhaps the two Kingdoms could coexist in unity, as Odin always dreamed they would one day."

Asgard and Jotunheim united? The idea seemed like fantasy to Erindis and the fact that it did saddened her. Maybe Frigga was right. Maybe Loki would not be so eager to use the Frost Giants as his pawns if he knew that he was one of them. On the other hand, what if knowing he was a Frost Giant pushed him over the edge and made him turn against Asgard completely? For a terrible moment she imagined Loki in his Frost Giant form sitting on the frozen throne of Jotunheim, waging war against Asgard; as if her heart could break any further...

"Erindis," said Frigga after much thought, "Loki loves you."

If Erindis dared believe the Queen, even for a second, she might be crushed by the iron weight of hope. She couldn't allow it. There could be no _hope_ of Lokis loving her now…

"It is true," said Frigga. "I can see when my own son is in love."

_He isn't your son! _Erindis wanted to say, _He isn't anything that any of us wished that he was! _"He is a good actor," said Erindis, "he even has you fooled."

"Listen to me," said Frigga, "perhaps you are the thing that can change his mind."

Erindis tried to escape Friggas stare, but the Queen of Asgard caught hold of her shoulders and looked at her, "Do you love him?" she demanded.

"Of course!" said Erindis, "I will never stop loving him." And the terrible thing was that she knew it was true.

"You love him even though he is Frost Giant?" asked Frigga. Erindis blinked. Wasn't her answer obvious? "If you love him despite everything maybe it can stop him from doing committing treason. Love is the most powerful thing in any realm," said Frigga. "I believe Loki is doing whatever twisted thing he is doing out of love for Odin. He always longed to prove himself to him, to be loved as much as Thor."

Erindis was speechless. It made perfect sense, yet it was tragic in every way. Her heart swelled with an even deeper love for Loki.

"You must confront him tonight," said Frigga.

Erindis swallowed hard. She remembered the words of the other Erindis in the dream, "_What good is your little love…_" She was about to find out.


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you magnificent readers for the reviews and continued support. Honoured to be a part of this fandom :D Much love, hope you like 14.**

**I do not own any of the marvel characters.**

Chapter 14: The Ball

The Grand Ballroom of the Palace of Asgard had seen a millenniums worth of balls, but none as spectacular as the one given that night on the eve of the Solar Palio. It was a room that could have swallowed a cathedral. The walls were of peach blossom marble and the ceiling was an immense white dome. Looking up at it, Erindis had the strange impression that it was floating rather than sitting above the room, as if perhaps biding its time until some unguarded hour of the night when it would fly away forever. A staggering feast was laid out on two tables, one at each end of the room. There were champagne glasses standing in rows like soldiers; piles of pomegranates whose splitting sides littered the table with jewel like seeds; a honey cake fashioned to look like the Senate house, complete with a lawn of sugary peacocks and much, much more. (The opposing magnetic forces of the two feast tables wrought havoc on poor Volstagg, who was darting from one end of the room to other like an adulterous marble.) Musicians played in the gallery beneath a canopy of gold cloth embroidered with thousands of pearls the size of mustard seeds. At the head of room, on a throne covered in a pall of black satin, studded with miniature lightning bolts, sat Thor. His armour that night was a brilliant, bossy gold and his eyes seemed even prouder than usual. A procession of dignitaries was lined up to greet him. Thor nodded his head at each one with a childlike gravitas that make Erindis smile.

The ball spilled into the gardens outside. There, people were dancing under the magnolia trees, whose white globe like blossoms filled the air with heady perfume. The sight made Erindis' heart ache; what she would have given to have been one of those carefree dancers, instead of a woman with the weight of the realm on her shoulders. Erindis had arrived alone, and she had been glad for it. She shuddered at the thought of having to 'make the entrance'. She figured fewer eyes would be on her if she didn't come in with Loki. How wrong she was… The sight of Lokis 'new woman', poured into a red dress and arriving at the Palio Ball 'unaccompanied' was enough to send quite a few tongues into a frenzy (_"Has he finished with her then?" "I knew it wouldn't last" "Yes you did say! You said it wouldn't last" "I did! I did say it, didn't I? I always know! Well how could it last? The son of Odin and… where is she from again?")_. The air outside revived her after the ordeal. Erindis waved at Sif who was dancing with Fandral. Sif wore her billowing deep purple gown with the same ease as she wore her armour. Fandrals whiskers practically bristled with pleasure to be dancing with her.

"I apologize in advance to your dress." Erindis turned around to see Loki standing behind her. "I don't know how long I shall be able to keep from annihilating it." Erindis laughed (even though she knew he was only half kidding). "Ironic isn't it, how certain garments serve their purpose so well, they are only worn a few moments?"

"This dress will be worn all night," said Erindis with a smile, "and its '_purpose_' isn't to make an ape out of you Loki."

"Then it is a terribly misguided dress and deserves our compassion."

Instead of bantering with him, Erindis leapt at Loki and threw her arms around his elegant neck with an earnestness that caught him off guard. He deepened the kiss and let his hand travel down her back as she gripped the base of his head. It still gave her shivers. He smiled against her mouth. "I take it I was missed today?" he asked when they parted for air. Erindis wanted to tell him he was always missed, when he was right there in front of her. Loki kissed her again, this time even more passionately. He pressed her body against his as if she were made of stuff more precious than flesh. Was this what she would have to give up forever? Erindis tried to convince herself that she was lucky: at least she had tasted bliss.

"What were you planning today?" Erindis asked, even though she knew whatever the answer was would be a lie.

"You'll see," said Loki.

At that moment trumpets sounded and a mass of guests flooded into the gardens from the ballroom, they were led by Thor.

"My brother Loki has prepared a fireworks display in honour of my birthday tomorrow,' announced Thor. Erindis looked at Loki with surprise. His eyes glittered in satisfaction: he had called her bluff yet again.

All the guests raised their faces to the sky. At first there was only darkness and the familiar pattern of stars. Then, in the hushed silence, the blackness began to quiver with colours. First a milky white, then a pure gold, then an emerald green slashed the sky. A torpid violet became quicker red. Red transmuted into blue. Blue bled into wine purple. They pulsated across the sky, Lokis newborn lights, burning amid the ancient fires of the stars as if issuing forth from the crown of heaven. Every once in while, an individual streak shone so brightly that it filled the sky with hesitant daylight before disappearing again into night. Erindis looked at Loki in shock. He had not bothered with a fireworks display for his brother; he had used his sorcery to conjure up the northern lights he had once witnessed on Midgard. Loki had made the heavens vibrate in Thors honour. Erindis recognized, despite everything she knew, that this was a gesture of love (even if Loki would never admit it). Thor looked up at the sky with awe. Erindis guessed there wasn't much in this realm that could fill the God of Thunder with awe. When it was over Thor strode over to Loki and gave him a hearty, manly embrace. Lokis eyes widened as he had not been prepared for it. "Thank you Brother," said Thor into his shoulder, he sounded quite moved.

"It was nothing," said Loki, straightening his front, "the most basic sorcery..."

"It was a display worthy of a King!" cried Thor and slapped his back.

"I'm glad you think so," said Loki had a hint of ice now. "It is a shame Father could not be here to see it." This was meant as a barb for Thor, who still didn't know that Loki had tricked him and Odin into going to Jotunheim.

"Yes," said Thor a little more soberly. He raised his goblet, "Let us drink to Odin!" he cried and a sea of glasses lifted. "May he awake and join us soon." The crowd murmured in agreement and Erindis caught Friggas eye for a moment. She noticed her glass trembling a bit in her hand.

Back inside the ballroom, the floor was now a riot of dancing couples. Volstagg danced with a woman in one arm and a slice of pie in the other. Fandral was trying to persuade a giggling Sif to waltz with him "for real". Even Hogun wore a smile as he glided across the floor with a beauty in pale peach. At the centre of it all, spinning like a solar systems central star, were Thor and his partner. Erindis thought he was surprisingly graceful. Then she saw who he was dancing with: pressed up against Thor, wearing a silver dress, with jewels festooned in the bouffant flame of her hair, was Freyja. She was whispering things to Thor as they danced. Whatever she was saying seemed to be giving the God of Thunder great pleasure (_probably talking about her butterfly cooch again, _thought Erindis_)_. Then, in full view of every man, woman, child and ambassador, Freyja stuck her tongue directly into Thors' ear and kept it there till the final strains of the waltz ended. Somewhere in the crowd Ermir the Lord of Lagloon planted his face in his palm.

As the next song began, Loki grabbed Erindis by the waist and twirled her onto the floor. Erindis was terrified as she hadn't done much dancing at formal occasions before. But Lokis hand on her back steadied her and soon she was gliding with him in exhilaration. She felt herself moving so lightly that her feet seemed to hardly touch the floor (surely some sorcery was involved!) Erindis had heard it said somewhere that elegance was 'an economy of movement'. With Loki there was never a clumsy move or a displaced heel. It was like watching a blade dance on air. Erindis laughed out loud and that made Loki laugh as well; a genuine unguarded laugh that only she could hear amid the noise of the room. If she could have, Erindis would have stopped time and lived in this moment for all eternity. They would never have to stop dancing. The dark thing Erindis sensed looming like some distant reef in the ocean of her future would never come to pass. Frozen in the moment of Lokis love, she could have been happy…

"Loki," she said when the music stopped, "will you take a walk with me outside."

"Of course darling," said Loki cupping her cheek, "you know I love being antisocial with you."

The vault of the night sky bore no marks of Lokis Northern Lights display. A mist had arrived and veiled Asgards multiple moons as it did in story book pictures. They walked out to where there were no longer any people, to the creek along whose banks Loki had first felt himself disturbed by love for Erindis. She fascinated him even more now than she had that day. Since then, he had explored her, obsessively and methodically. He had absorbed and was absorbed by her. He had ploughed and tasted her. He had inhaled her and slept with his lips pressed against her shoulder blade. He had dreamt of her while lying beside her. He had reached countless blinding climaxes with her; and still it was not enough, still Loki wanted more. He needed more. He was like a sick man in love with the disease that crippled him. Now his beloved held his hand in the garden and looked up at him with a strange sadness. For a split second he wondered whether it was worth it to risk losing her tomorrow. He winced at the thought. He was not going to allow himself to be weak. His love for Erindis might well destroy him but he was damned if he was going let it destroy the Kingdom as well. Besides, Erindis would forgive him eventually. She loved him as helplessly as dog who loves its cruel owner, even though he is unworthy.

"Loki," she began, "I have something I have to say to you." Her bottom lip trembled and she had to bite down on it. The second she opened her mouth again an unstoppable torrent of words poured out. "I don't know where you have been going these past few days. I don't know what you have been doing. I don't know if you have built a fake Frost Relic or a real one. I don't know if you are tricking the Frost Giants or working with them. I don't know if you are planning to murder or banish your brother. I don't know whether you love me or not. I don't know if I am a fool for even saying all this to you…. But- but if you- if you are planning to allow the Frost Giants into Asgard tomorrow, you are making a terrible mistake."

Loki stared at her. He didn't look alarmed, or angry, he just stared at her with a look of _nothing. _Erindis felt a chill up her spine. Anything, even scorn, would have been better than this. "Well," said Loki after a long silence, "it seems that you were not finished with your little espionage after all." Loki didn't raise his voice. He didn't even sound excited.

"I'm sorry," said Erindis, "but I couldn't just sit there knowing that you were about to commit an act of war!"

"I am not committing an act of war!" said Loki, finally breaking his façade.

"Bringing in the Frost Giants will mean war between Asgard and Jotunheim! Do you think Thor will hesitate to invade Jotunheim after tomorrow?"

Lokis eyes flashed terribly. "Thor will not be King after tomorrow."

Erindis gasped, "You would kill your own brother?"

"No! He will merely be exiled. That is the price Laufey will demand for continued peace."

Erindis' mind swam. "W-what?"

"The Jotuns think I am giving them a Frost Relic in return for their cooperation."

"And you are giving them the fake one?"

"Of course I am giving them the fake one! I am not a pschopath." He sounded somewhat wounded.

"Loki, please, it won't work!" pleaded Erindis, "Please listen to me, Thor will never agree to step off the throne! And then the Jotuns will not be able to defend themselves… Thor will go into Jotunheim and there will be a massacre!"

"Thor will be _compelled _by others to step down," said Loki.

"No!" shouted Erindis, "he will not! Thor has sway over the army. The warriors love him, they will do whatever he commands! He is the son of Odin!"

"So am I," said Loki. His eyes burned. Erindis could tell that he wanted her to see the genius of his plan, that he would not stop until she agreed with him, and if she didn't it still wasn't going to stop him. His hunger for recognition, love and paternal pride was too great. He didn't care if it meant all out war with the Jotuns. _What do the Frost Giants matter to him? _she thought. Never had Loki terrified her more, and never had she felt more helpless in her love for him. She took a deep breath, holding back an onslaught of tears.

"No you are not."

Loki looked at her incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"I'm so sorry Loki," she whispered.

"What are you talking about?"

"When the war between Jotunheim and Asgard ended Odin found you in a Temple in the ruined city. He brought you home, he and Frigga raised you but you're-"

"What?" Loki's voice was shaking, his eyes were watering at the rims, he already knew what was coming, "What? _What_ am I?"

"Loki-"

"I'm a Frost Giant, is that it?" Loki laughed a terrible agonized laugh, "Look! You- you can't even say it, can you? You can't even bring yourself to _say it_!"

"It doesn't change anything!" Erindis cried, she reached out to touch his arm.

"Don't touch me!" said Loki dangerously, "Don't you _ever_ lay your fingers on me again. Whose son am I?" he demanded though he already heard the answer in his mind.

"Laufeys."

Loki closed his eyes and was silent for a few moments. When he opened them they were cold, emotionless. "When did you find out?"

"A week ago." Erindis felt deep guilt. What could she have done differently? The question was torture.

"So you knew all along?" Loki laughed, then looked at her for a long time. "I stand in awe," he said in a voice of black ice, "I wouldn't have thought you capable of using sex to glean information, especially knowing I was a-" Loki choked on the word.

"That's not true!" cried Erindis, "I never used _our relationship _to- I would never-"

"You would never what? _Whore yourself to a monster _if you thought the realm depended on it?"

Erindis slapped Loki across the face. For an instant she saw surprise flicker in his eyes, and deep pain.

"I don't blame you," he said scornfully, "a good spy uses everything in their arsenal- if you will pardon the pun. But poor Erindis: all your efforts were in vain. The fact is you could never stop me. To be honest I never wasted any effort even tryingto hide things from _you_. You were too busy hanging off my neck to ever-"

"I love you Loki, _we love each other!_"

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was foolish to go falling in love with monsters?" snapped Loki.

"You're not a –"

"Did you really think I could love you?"

Erindis stared at him. She felt as though her ribcage was slowly divorcing her body. "You don't mean it," she whispered. "You _can't _mean it. You're just pretending."

"No," snapped Loki deadly serious now, "_Pretending_ is what I did when I felt your arms reaching for me in the night, gripping like_ horrible suctioned tentacles_. _Pretending_ is what I did when you looked up at me with those pathetic eyes and I swore I loved you. _Pretending_ is what I do every day when I walk around this palace like I feel I belong here. _Pretending_ is what I did whenever Odin and Frigga lied that they loved me and I lied that I believed them! _Pretending_ is what I do every day I live in this," Loki tore at his face, "in this skin! In this human _disguise_!" Lokis eyes were glazed over with tears.

"Loki please!" Erindis leapt to throw her arms around him but Loki waved his hand and she was dispelled by a sharp electric wave and fell to the ground. When she sat up she saw that he saw him flying, not walking, towards the Palace. With all the focus she could muster she willed herself to think of a moth, the totem animal Freyja had bestowed on her on a happier night that seemed an ocean of time away.

_POP! _Erindis fluttered in the wind above Lokis head. She watched as he himself shape shifted into a raven to slip through a window at the top of the highest tower of the Palace complex. The moth followed suit.

The moment Loki saw her on the ground he regretted it. How could he have allowed be so cruel? How could he have allowed that poison to drip from his lips. He didn't love anything in the world as much as he loved her. Erindis lived almost alone within the white stone walls of his heart. Nothing could ever change that. Not any fact about her. Not any fact about him. _What had he done? _She was the only one who had ever loved him fully, wholly, without fear. And how had he repaid her? By ripping out her heart and slamming it against the damp grass. But he had to do it. How else could he save her from himself? To break her heart now was merciful. How could she have bourn his actions tomorrow? Loki had gazed out over the garden when he reach the top of the tower. Erindis had already gone back to the ballroom. Good. The farther away she was better, for own sake.

Loki was surprised to find his stepmother sitting next to Odin in the healing chamber. She barely stirred when she saw him _POP_ back into a person. Evidently, she had been expecting him.

"Why aren't you downstairs toasting your Son?" asked Loki.

"I saw you leave with Erindis. I know what she told you."

Loki had never been so overcome with grief and blinding rage at the same time. It made him feel hollow inside, as if his whole body had been excavated for blood and organs and then left behind. He looked at Odin, lying there in his amber capsule. This was the same man who had taken him on walks along the white pebbly shore of the Bjord River when he was a boy. It was the same man who whose bristling beard he had played with as he listened to stories about the old wars; whose hand he had held when he heard the wolves howling at the edge of the Elnir Forest. He had starved for Odins approval. As a child, he would have lit himself on fire just to make the old man smile. It was his daily mission: making Odin happy. Yet he had never been as cherished as Thor. Now at last, Loki had an answer to the mystery of his life. It was not satisfying but rather, it made him feel even more barren than before. Who was he now, if he didn't belong to these people? If they weren't his family? For all his genius, he may as well have been vapour; he may as well have been nothing.

"Why did you lie to me my whole life?" It was a simple question, with a ready answer and somehow failed to accomidate the scope of what Loki was feeling.

"We wanted to protect you. You are our son and we love you."

"Y-you and Him, you never trusted me," Loki whispered, "now I know why."

"We do trust you Loki." How good Frigga was at clothing her horror for him in passionate words.

"I never stood a chance did I? No matter what I did I never stood a chance…"

"That isn't true Loki…"

Erindis was clinging upside down to the ceiling. To her relief she blended in well as a moth. But she couldn't hear a thing Frigga and Loki were saying. She waited for about half an hour. There was some shouting. Then Loki allowed Frigga to embrace him before finally huggin her back. It was gratifying to see that he was at least allowing somebody to care for him (unless that too was an elaborate act). Erindis cursed herself for thinking this. What a hippocrite she was! Here she had been moaning to herself about how much Loki lied, and how she could never trust him, when all along, _she _had been the one who kept the darkest secret. His indifference served her right, yet it was unbearable… She would have lived happily to see Loki scowl at her from across a table every day for the rest of her life, but to be sent away, knowing he was _indifferent_, knowing that he had never loved her, knowing that he would forget her… Erindis knew this was the end. The end of her mission. The end of her knowing Loki. The end of hope. Tommorow she would fly in a carriage back to the Academy. She would arrive looking like a whole person. Her friend swould embrace but they would be embracing a ghost. Luckily, concentrating on holding the form of a moth was hard work and meant she couldn't allow herself to luxuriate fully despair.

When Loki and Frigga finally left the Erindis couldn't suppress a premature _POP! _and fell down hard on the floor beside Odins' bed. She stood up and tore off the bottom half of the skirt of her dress in the process. She was glad Odin couldn't see this. Her back prickled with pain. Erindis groaned. She didn't even know where she'd be sleeping tonight. She didn't particularly care, any dark corner would do, as long as it allowed her a temporary haven from consciousness. Erindis was just about to head for the exit when she heard a thunderous tear in the wall behind her. She turned around to find that it hadn't been the wall but _thin air... _A hole had formed in the centre of the room. The edges blazed with white light and a great wind was blowing from the centre. Erindis felt the temperature of the room drop by about twenty degrees. Through the hole she could see a kind of a tunnel with voices echoing from inside.

"You must hurry Your Majesty! You only have two minutes. I cannot hold the wormhole open for any longer. It isn't nearly as stable as the one Loki made…"

Erindis gasped as she saw an enormous blue leg extend from the mouth of the hole. She took a deep breath and _POP_ed herself back into a moth, remaining very still on the ground. She watched as a Frost Giant stepped out of the wormhole. Erindis was no racist; she knew Frost Giants were people just like the Asgardians: there were good Frost Giants and bad Frost Giants and ones with little character at all; but this particular one was _terrifying_. The Frost Giant looked at Odin and narrowed his red eyes. "Such a shame," the Frost Giant seethed, "that I could not have the pleasure of seeing you _fall_. Well, at least you can hear me and know that it is _Laufey_ who sends you to your grave!" With that he raised his massive arm above Odin's chest. On the end of it was crystallized ice dagger. "Sweet dreams, King of Asgard!"

_POP!_

"NO!" Erindis screamed as she sent an electric surge through her arm and blasted the Frost Giant with it. The dagger on his hand snapped in half like candy cane.

"What's this?" questioned Laufey, "_a little fairy_?" The massive man grew another ice dagger over his hand and this time lunged at Erindis. She managed to disapparate from the spot and reappear behind him. The technique was still new to her and made her feel incredibly dizzy. She ducked as another icicled hand swung at her. She knew that if she allowed Laufey to touch her, he would trap her into a block of ice. "Another sorcerer?" said the Laufey, "My, but the court of Asgard is _plagued_ with you people!" He grabbed at her but she zapped his chest with a heat ray. "Aaaaaaargh!" cried the Kind of Jotunheim, "You will pay for this boldness!" With that Laufey lunged and grabbed her wrist. It was all that was needed to immobolize her. Erindis felt her skin freeze and stiffen as ice enveloped her entire body. The cold was unbearable. It was like a million bee stings at once. She opened her mouth to scream but now sound came. She heard another voice from inside the wormhole.

"Your Majesty the wormhole is about to collapse!"

Laufey had been about to walk back to Odin and finish him off. The voice called out again, urgently, "Now Sir! There is no time!"

Laufey stopped in his tracks. He looked back at the wormhole and saw it was beginning to shrink. He dashed back toward it and grabbed the little ornament he had made out of the girl who dared ruin his plan. She was going to pay for this. Laufey shook with rage as he was sucked through the tunnel of the wormhole. He had failed in his attempt to kill Odin, but at least he had gotten away with a souvenir, and by god, he was going to use it.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you for the continued support! Knowing you like and are reading my story is totally making my life right now :D Much love, hope 15 isn't a total bust. More will come soon. **

**I do not own any of the Marvel characters. **

Chapter 15: A Stadium in the Sky

For hours there was silence; paralysis and absolute silence, broken only by the occasional splitting of ice from the ceiling above. Erindis hoped she still had fingers and feet because she could no longer feel them. Cold penetrated her skin, muscles, bones, heart. She was staring (without the luxury of blinking!) through a window overlooking a cluster of black towers beyond which spread an endless expanse of snow and cobalt blue glaciers that rose from frozen waves like the thumbs of some subterranean colossoss. Hours ago, she had been left here by Laufey and another Frost Giant named Tigor. She did not know where they went, or whether they were coming back at all. Erindis felt strangely detatched from her own terror, as if it was happening to some other woman.

Finally Erindis heard the doors groan open as King Laufey entered the room. "Enjoying the view Little Soceress?" His voice oozed with sadistic mirth. "You make a fine statue, not perhaps as impressive as Odin, but undeniably _prettier._ I admit it would not be bad, having you here to decorate the hall like this. I could easily keep you alive for years and years and _years..._" Erindis would have screamed but she felt like she had no mouth. "There's just one tiny problem: every time I would look at you, I would be reminded of the little _worm_ who robbed me of the pleasure of killing my enemy!" He was violently angry and yelled so loud that Erindis thought her ice prison might shatter around her. Then the Frost Giant calmed himself and smiled, "So I must think of some other use for you…" Erindis gulped (she envisioned herself hacking away at rock in a mine on some frozen moon. Then she imagined herself in some sort of ice harem, sprawled on a bed of white furs alongside women twice her size …) Why didn't he just kill her, Erindis wondered. "But how do I let the little Sorceress out of her cage without risking another outburst, hmmmmm?" Laufey wrinkled his face and pretended to be thinking of a solution. "I know!" he said, lighting up. "TIGOR!" At that moment a somewhat dishevelled looking Frost Giant bolted into the room. He was carrying what appeared to be a glowing blue collar. "You smug Asgardians aren't the only ones who can manipulate natural laws using science," said Laufey proudly. "Tigor here, is a scientist who highly respected in the realm, aren't you Tigor?"

Tigor blinked. He knew that he wasn't respected. For one thing, he had been ridiculed all his life for not being a warrior and even now his mother couldn't look upon him without a frown of disappointment. Whenever her friends asked what her son did for a living she lied and said he was an 'Attendant of the King' ("_better that then telling them you potter about with little spells and test tubes all day! What kind of profession is that for Jotun?_"). His home wasn't large enough for him and his wife and her parents (whose house it was). At dinner, he was always given the smallest slice of Frost Fowl Pie. No one ever popped open a bottle of wine when he visited. People cut in front of him in lines. Jokes were made at his expense. As he had left the house that morning, his own wife told him he was so short she could "_eat breakfast from a plate on your head if I wanted to_". All in all, Tigor knew he wasn't respected. "Yes Sir," he said.

"And Tigor has created a device that will inhibit your powers of sorcery whilst you remain in Jotunheim. Isn't that right Tigor?"

"Yes your Majesty," said Tigor. He couldn't help feeling a little twinge of pride at the accomplishment. "It uses electrical waves to inhibit the Clytonemic neurons in the central-"

"Yes, Tigor, that's quite enough. The girl is already frozen within an inch of her life, do you want to finish her off with boredom?"

"I'm sorry Sir," said Tigor looking down.

Even in her horror, Erindis could not help feeling curious about the device on a purely scientific level. She had never heard of such a thing being possible, clearly the Frost Giants were far more technologically advanced than anyone at the Asgard Academy gave them credit for.

"Don't be sorry," said Laufey, "just collar the Bitch."

With that, Erindis watched as the relatively smallish Frost Giant strode over to her and fit the collar around the ice binding her neck. He avoided her eyes.

"Good. Now, this may hurt a bit," said Laufey. Erindis watched as a gigantic icy axe formed at the end of his arm. He walked over to her on and touched the top of her head with the point, shattering all the ice around her with one strike. Erindis gasped as she felt the collar snap and tighten around her neck, it was even colder than ice against her skin. Without the cast of ice to hold her numb limbs upright, Erindis collapsed onto the floor before Laufeys feet. "You'll feel better once you've thawed out a bit," said the King of Jotunheim with a smirk. He grazed her stomach with the front of his foot. "Now you can tell me exactly who you are and what compelled you to risk your life to protect that comatose old fool."

"Don't call the AllFather that!" spat Erindis.

Laufey seemed tremendously amused by this. "And what else is he? Did you know that it was his own son who plotted his overthrow?" Laufey nodded his head as if this would be some shocking news to her. "_Loki himself _granted us safe passage into Asgard for the Palio tomorrow". Evidently Erindis did not look surprised enough for Laufey's taste. "Does that not _shock_ you? Does it not _surprise _you to see in what shambles your beloved Royal family is in? The same man for whom you would lay down your pathetic little life is being ruined by his own son!"

"What can I say?" deadpanned Erindis, "it's a difficult age."

Laufey looked at her carefully for a long time before howling with laughter. Then he stopped dead and narrowed his eyes again. "Perhaps this one knows more than he lets on, Tigor," he said. "Tell me, what is your post at the Court of Asgard?"

"I am Lady Freyjas chamber maid," Erindis lied.

"In that outfit?" scoffed Laufey, "don't insult my intelligence, Sorceress." Erindis looked down at her gown, below her waist it was tatters but it still looked obviously costly. "No, no, you are no chamber maid, not anymore than I am the court jester. Now tell me what you do; and answer wisely, if you lie again I shall slice off that shiny new collar and your throat with it!"

Erindis was silent.

"No answer? Very well then-" Laufey raised his axed hand above Erindis.

"WAIT, SIR! Didn't you say Odin told you he had a spy watching Loki for him at the palace?" Laufey turned to see Tigors face next to his shoulder. He looked purple with passion. Then the smaller giant stepped a back and said more quietly, "I mean, p-perhaps this is her…"

Laufey's eyes widened in menacing delight. Erindis wasn't sure who he enjoyed torturing more, her or this Scientist. "You think so, Tigor?"

"Y-yes, I mean, if _you _think so, Sir."

Laufey nodded his head in consideration. "It makes sense, Tigor; she _is _a sorceress after all…" Tigor looked relieved. "I think you are right in agreeing with me. This girl is definitely Odin's spy."

"Thank you Sir."

SMACK!

There was an echo as the back of Laufey's un-axed hand hit Tigor's face. "I. Don't. Like. Sycophants," he breathed in Tigor's ear, before roaring, "I DIDN'T SURVIVE THOUSANDS OF YEARS ON THE THRONE OF JOTUNHEIM BY TAKING THE ADVICE OF SYCOPHANTS! Is that clear?"

"Yes," whimpered Tigor.

"Good," said Laufey, returning to humour, "_Good._ That was a _good _idea you had just then, Tigor. _Good for you._ It makes sense. I can see no other possibility. This young sorceress has been spying on Loki… Haven't you?" Laufey looked at Erindis. She said nothing. "Tell me, have you ever been dangled over Glacier, little girl? Have you ever felt the winds pound your face at 300 miles per hour? _Not that there would be much of a face left to pound…_"

Erindis said nothing. She was shivering. Her lips and fingers were black; what she wouldn't have given to be able to warm herself with a charm.

"Do you think your King Odin cares about you?"

Erindis didn't know. Over the past few weeks, she couldn't help but start to think of Odin as something of a father; it had been so long since she had seen her own. The sudden thought of her own father made Erindis's heart ache. Many nights she closed her eyes and found she couldn't remember his face. She only knew the facts of his features, not how they fit together. His snow white hair. His slow walk. His tough hands. At this very moment he was somewhere in Brinnan, all alone, farming. If she died here, she would never see him again. She hoped that by some mercy he would think she had run away from the Academy. That he would think his naïve little girl had eloped with some man, that she was alive somewhere, being irresponsible.

"Do you think your life means anything to any of _them_?" questioned Laufey.

It meant nothing to Loki. That was the plain harrowing fact. Her death would come to him as _news,_ that's all; a faraway reality about a faraway girl who had once told him she loved him. He would go on with his life. Ages would follow ages and he would never even think about her. He would never know how he had gilded her life like a ray of sunshine. He would never know the pain that he caused; the pain that seemed to snuff out her soul like a light. Erindis didn't care what happened to her. She didn't fear Laufey. She didn't fear torture.

"Why don't you speak Sorceress? Is your tongue frostbitten too?"

"She must be in shock," offered Tigor.

Outside, a storm had begun to moan and whistle like a sick old man in his sleep. The clouds were putting on a show of thunder. Erindis felt like part of her was out there and not in this room with this goblin-faced man and his simpering minion.

"What is your name?" demanded Laufey.

What was her name? '_Erindis' _seemed less like her name than a story from childhood.

"Who are you?"

"Nobody," she said, "I'm nobody."

Laufey laughed, "That is true enough, by this time tommorow, _all _Asgardians will be nobodies."

Erindis winced. How foolish this King was! He was going to enable the slaughter of his his own people. Erindis's conscience stirred; no innocent Jotun should have to die for his mistake.

"You think you will get a Relic tomorrow?" she asked with fearless scorn.

Laufey's smile dimmed, "What did you say?"

"You think Loki will _pay you handsomely _for your pains after the Solar Palio?" Laufey stared at her dangerously.

"You honestly think that the son of Odin would give you a real Frost Relic, that you would be able to use to destroy Asgard? Then you are a fool Laufey, as well a Sadist."

"How do you know?"

"I'm a spy aren't I?"

Erindis noticed as Tigor closed his eyes and swallowed a lump. Laufey's ice covered knuckles were shaking now. He was like a volcano covered in centuries of ice, trying to contain its molten core. "Loki will die for this betrayal," he seethed. "I will make him think his plan has succeeded and then, when we are alone and he's not expecting it, I will smite him until there are a thousand pieces of him."

"NO!" screamed Erindis.

Laufey looked at her in surprise. "No?"

"Don't kill him!" pleaded Erindis with naked passion.

Laufey smiled, "Why should you care whether I kill the little Bastard or not?" he questioned, "unless perhaps you two are… _lovers?_"

"No-"

"But of course you are! The little Devil could hardly keep his hands off you, I presume…"

"No, no, it wasn't like that, I swear-"

"You probably got the poor besotted fool to spill all his secrets to you. Imagine that, Tigor, the little Prince _in love._"

"He is NOT in love!" said Erindis.

"Well surely you can't be a very good judge of that," said Laufey in amusement, "surely you can't be a very good judge of _anything_, if you fell in love with Loki!" Laufey looked at Tigor as though he expected him to laugh. Tigor stared at him blankly for moment before launching into a forced torrent of chuckles. Loki smacked him again on the head, "What did I say about sycophants?" Then he turned to Erindis, "Well, it seems I have come back with a treasure from Asgard after all: _The Beloved of Loki._"

"I am not his _beloved_!" Erindis yelled.

"What's the matter did you two have a lover's quarrel? Don't worry you little fool, I wasn't going to kill Loki anyway. Do you know what kind of payback Thor and Odin would inflict for his death? _I only wanted to see what kind of reaction it would elicit from you_. And you've now told me _everything _I need to know."

Erindis cursed herself. It appeared that King Laufey was just as cunning and manipulative as his son.

"Listen," she said, "I don't like you King Laufey and I don't know what you think you are going to achieve at the Palio tomorrow. But I won't just sit here and watch as you sign a death warrant for thousands of innocent Jotuns!"

"That's exactly right," said Laufey, "you won't."

Laufey smiled. It didn't take a genius to see he had the beginnings of a winning hand. This girl was insurance against Loki and also a gifted sorceress in her own right. _Perhaps if she were compelled to channel her talents in the aid Jotunheim… _

The morning sun poured through a crack in the curtain, filling Lokis room with golden specks of dust. He woke up. He remembered. He got up. Never had his limbs felt heavier and more alien to him. A few hours of potion induced sleep changed nothing: he felt the same pain as yesterday, in the same place. All his life Loki had suspected there was a void where his heart should be. How wrong he was! Now he felt his heart in terrible in wholeness. His entire being seemed to droop with the weight of it, the way some exotic flowers droop from the weight their speckled centres. He heard laughter and excitement through the walls. It was Thor's birthday.

Loki stepped out into the main room not knowing what he would say if he saw her. The chamber was empty. He knocked on the door of her room. No answer. He went inside. Her bed was unslept in. Last night's perfume still lingered in the air. She must have already gone to the Stadium. Or perhaps, she was already in a carriage in the clouds, riding back to the Academy. Perhaps it was too much for her to watch his plan unfold today and be powerless to stop it. And it was true that she couldn't stop him, nobody could, not now. His success was sealed. He was rid of her. He had won. Loki almost choked with bitterness of the thought, _he had won._

That afternoon as he was leaving for the Palio, Loki spotted his Brother- _who was not his brother!-_ bounding towards him from end of the corridor. He was flanked by an entourage that included the Warriors and Frejia (who was dressed in Thor's signature colours: a low cut black dress and a cape of blood red satin. Loki thought she clung to him rather like an extension of his own cape).

"Brother!" cried Thor.

"Happy Birthday Thor," said Loki with all the exuberance he could muster. His brother didn't seem any different to him now that he knew they were not related. Locked inside his shell of hatred was an undeniable kernal of love for Thor. It was as infuriating as ever. Why did 'Family' still had the power to enslave him, even when he knew it was all a lie?

"Where did you go after your Northern Lights display last night? You missed a hell of a party!" said Thor. The Warriors murmured in agreenment.

Volstagg was gripping his temples and looked a little green, "Party of the century, my freind" he confirmed woozily, "all those pistachio macaroons…" the memory seemed to fill him with misty eyed longing and make him sick at the same time. "_Beautiful_."

"Loki was occupied elsewhere," said Freyja with a hint of bitterness, "_with his Erindis no doubt._"

"That's right, of course! Where is Erindis?" asked Thor.

"How should I know?"

Thor blinked. "Well, she sleeps in your quarters, you work together and, if I'm not mistaken, _you and she are_-" Loki's withering look killed Thor's sentence in it's tracks.

"She hasn't been here all day?" questioned Fandral.

"No."

"And you didn't hear her come in last night?" asked Sif worriedly.

"No." Loki hoped that his shrug was convincing.

"Perhaps," said Frejya with a glint in her eyes, "Erindis spent the night in some _other chamber._ There were so many distinguished men at the ball last night…"

"_You would know, wouldn't you?_" muttered Sif under her breath.

Freyja's saphire like eyes widened, "_What did you say_?"

"I said-"

"WELL, in any case," interrupted Thor, "she is bound to be at the Palio so maybe we'll run into her there. Come, let us all fly to the stadium together so that I may make my entrance." Loki watched the God of Thunder laugh nervously at Sif and Freyja as they walked out into the courtyard. 'Making an entrance' and duelling lovers/exes would be the least of his worries that day…

As the clouds parted, high above Asgard, Loki spotted it, shimmering in the distance like floating wedding band, the golden stadium in the sky. It was a round, roofless structure with several stories, bourn aloft on the backs of two rose pink clouds. As they flew directly over the stadium, a deafening cheer was heard. Thor smiled and let go of Freyja, who couldn't quite fly by herself and now clung to Thors neck for dear life. Thor waved his hammer sent a baby lightening bolt crackling through the circle of the stadium to orgasmic applause. There were thousands of people cheering in the stands at each level. A large portion of the crowd wore 'Thor Red' and from above they resembled a field of rioting poppies. Thor did a little flip in the air that sent Freyja flying towards Fandril who caught her by the ankles. "So sorry!" called Thor, though he was already preparing to perform another flip as she wiggled with her skirts over her head. "Isn't this wonderful?"

When at last Thor and the others took their places in the Royal veiwing box, the God of Thunder stood over the balcony and basked in applause for a full seven minutes. Loki wondered if anyone in the crowd would dare to be the first to stop clapping. _Well, this is one way of exhausting people_. "Friends, Asgardians!" Thor called out over the mass of spectators, "Welcome to the Solar Palio Chariot Race!" The crowd roared in response (Loki could make out a few individual voices near the Royal box, "_Happy Birthday Thor!_" "_Marry us Thor!_" "_We're legal now Thor!_") "My Father could not be here to celebrate with us today…" A pall. A dour note. A short silence more jarring than noise. "But that won't stop _us_ from having a thrilling race in his honour!" The crowd cheered. Loki knew that if Thor had said: "I am wearing live crabs as nipple jewelery" they would have cheered for that too. "We are going to have _GOOD TIME TODAY_!" More cheers. "How do I know we're going to have a good time?" said Thor, as if anybody had asked, "because I command it and it's _MY BIRTHDAY!_" The crowd went beserck. Thor flashed his irresistable mega watt smile. The spectators were putty in his hands. Loki knew what it meant when people said it was a thin line, separating heroes and dictators. "Now let's see these champions!"

With that, the gates at the bottom of the stadium swung open and eight magnificent winged stallions pulling riders in gold chariots flew up from the pit. They galloped around the stadium as if there was an invisible racetrack beneath their hooves. "There he is!" cried Freyja, pulling on Thor's bicep in excitment, "there's _'Runs Like the Wind, Leaves the Others in the Dust'_!" She pointed to the most beautiful stallion of the lot. He was golden brown and he flew like an avenging angel. "Isn't he beautiful?"

"I don't get it," Sif whispered to Fandral, "We are several hundred above the ground, _what dust?_" Fandral suppressed a laugh.

Watching these riders cirle round and round the stadium was turning Volstagg a more urgent shade of green. "_When the time comes_, _go over the side_,' was Hogun's sage advice. Volstagg felt a strange sadness as he bent over the balcony and watched a large portion of yesterday's feast disappear into the clouds above Asgard. _Goodbye pistachio macaroons, goodbye lemon custard…_

Trumpets sounded as the first race was set to begin. Eight aisles materialized out of purple smoke and each rider took their place. One of the charioteers, a flaxen haired man with a narrow aristocratic face, made the embarrassingly theatrical gesture of bowing to Thor. The other charioteers looked at him with scorn. "Leaf Fjordssen is dedicating his race to you!" squealed Freyja (obviously she more than of her two crushes were in the stadium that day).

"He'd better not lose then," grumbled Thor as he watched Freyja blow Leaf Fjordssen a kiss. Then a deafening shot was fired and the race began. A white stallion blazed in the lead with R.L.W.L.O.D. and another stallion trailing close behind. The crowd was in a frenzy. "Go '_Runs Like the Wind, Leaves the Others in the Dust!,' GO!" _yelled Freyja, "show them how we do it in Lagloon! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She was not being the least bit ladylike, and as a result was earning a little respect from the astonished (and now nearly deaf) Sif. Elsewhere in the Royal box, Lord Ermir turned 'Thor Red'.

Loki could barely distinguish between the individual horse figures, chariots and the crimson sea of the audience. Her face did not raise itself from the crowd. Nor did her voice ring out amid their chanting. Loki had always known that there was no chance of his ever being able to forget her; but now it dawned on him that he was in danger of forgetting everything and everyone else_._ Loki looked at Thor; he was sitting back on his throne like some Emperor from Roman Midgard. This was all _his _fault. Thor was loved. Thor was trusted. Thor had _everything_ and suffered _nothing. _Loki's life was a constant negotiation of want and loss. Loki had never even been given the _chance_ to be good. Thor would never know the price he paid to see him fall. To Thor, sacrifice was an alien concept. Revenge against Thor would not bring Erindis back into Loki's arms. Revenge would not give him back the family he thought he had. He doubted whether revenge would have any taste to him at all.

"Did you see that Loki?" shouted Fandral, "'_Runs Fast, Others Eat Dirt_' won!"

"That isn't his name!" cried Freyja.

Loki smiled bitterly. Today, a horse would win and a King would lose. How was that for universal order?

"Are you all right Loki?" asked Sif.

"Why wouldn't I be?" he said.

"Well Erindis isn't-"

"_She doesn't belong here_."

Just then, a thunderous _CRACK! _was heard echoing throughout the arena. For a moment, everyone thought it was the beginning of some surprise spectacle arranged for the afternoon's entertainment by the God of Thunder.

"What in the realm was that?" asked Thor.

Then an icy wind began to emanate from the centre of the stadium. Gasps and shrieks were heard as the space at the centre of the arena began to literally pull apart. The horses went wild with fear and one the charioteers was tossed into the stands.

Lord Ermir as well as some of the other counsellors leapt from their seats and hurried to Thor's side. "Your Majesty I suggest you take cover-"

"I will _not _take cover Ermir!" yelled Thor, "I am a warrior and I am not about to run away from a little wind!" Freyja screamed; it was one drawn out, high pitched scream that didn't end until Volstagg stopped her mouth with a drumstick he had brought along with him in case he got peckish. The hole in the middle of the stadium grew until it was twenty feet in diameter. Then, from the freezing wind blowing from the mouth of hole, Twelve Frost Giants emerged, riding enormous white and silver steeds.

It was five pm.

"Many happy returns, _your Majesty_," cried King Laufey, after he and the others had galloped closer to the royal box.

The crowd erupted in screams. Mothers pressed their children into their bodies. Warriors unsheathed their weapons. Loki watched Laufey. The King of Jotunheim was clearly relishing the terror of the Asgardians. He smiled a terrible, demonic smile. His eyes did not seem like eyes at all but red globes spinning wildly inside the sockets of skull. _This _was his father_. This_ was what Odin saw every time he looked at Loki. Loki's blood ran cold, it was a wonder Odin could even bear the sight of him.

Loki watched as Thor gripped his hammer. He was about to send it spinning into the air when Loki stopped him, "Wait Brother, let's see what he wants." Loki strode over to the front of the Royal balcony. "King Laufey of Jotunheim?" he asked, as if he were seeing him for the very first time. Never before had it turned Loki's stomach to lie.

"I am he."

"Forgive me for being blunt, Your Majesty, but _how did you get here_?"

"We Frost Giants have new powers at our disposal the like of which you puny Asgardians have never seen!"

The phrase '_puny Asgardians' _had really stuck a nerve with Thor. He raised Mjolnir again. "Thor, wait," Loki whispered. "What powers do you speak of?" he asked Laufey.

"We have created new Frost Relics." The crowd murmured in shock at Laufey's words.

"I knew it!" snapped Thor.

Lord Ermir scrunched up his unbaked loaf of a face as if what he was hearing just didn't make sense. "New Frost Relics? Impossible!"

"How did we get here then?" demanded Laufey, "and how did we make Odin fall into an Odinsleep?" The crowd murmured again.

"_You _made Odin fall into an Odinsleep?" questioned Ermir, his blue eyes were wide as saucers.

"I _knew _it couldn't have been my fault!" snapped Thor. Loki wished he could have smacked his brother. He had to admit, Laufey's lie about the Odinsleep was an ingenious touch.

"What do you want from us?" asked Loki.

"Isn't it obvious? He wants WAR!" bellowed Thor. Behind him Sif, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg roared in support.

"You're the one who brought it up first, Your Majesty," said Laufey, beaming. "But I must warn you, if it comes to war, we will not hesitate to destroy your entire realm. We will crush your soldiers, your women, your children and your monuments like so much dust under the hooves of our horses. We will freeze your oceans and rivers and invite howling winds to blow across your ruined cities. We will make you watch the sun set on Asgard _for the last time. _We will decorate the hallowed castles of Jotunheim with your corpses. We will enslave the survivors and find artful ways of bringing them to the depths of their misery, so that _we may laugh._" Loki could tell that this was what Laufey really wanted to happen, that he wished his threats were more than just hollow play acting. Laufey didn't care who he had to destroy to get what he wanted. Loki felt a chill up his spine, inside him a voice whispered, '_how are you any different?'_

The councillors stared at the Frost Giant in stunned silence. Some of their knees were buckling. As Loki had long suspected, together they were not one fifth the man Odin was. Only Thor remained fearless. "And _we_ will turn Jotunheim into a furnace!" he bellowed, "We will pour boiling metal down your streets and down your chimneys. We will make you taste our swords, our staffs and our _HAMMERS!" _The warriors roared again. The crowd of spectators were on the brink of total hysteria.

"Stop!" cried Loki, "Surely there must be some agreement we can come upon to avoid bloodshed and devastation. We all know _it is what Odin would want._" Loki commended himself on this spontaneous little touch. The God of Mischief felt himself divided into two halves: the half of him that was riding the intoxicated rush of trickery and deceit and the other half, who was revolted by own actions, the half that looked and sounded and felt _like Erindis_. "Surely you must see, King Laufey, that a war between our peoples would bring mass destruction on both sides."

Laufey nodded his head, like he was considering what he heard. He was, like Loki, a magnificent actor. Like Father like Son: it made Loki's skin crawl. "It would bring me great satisfaction to litter your streets with foot soldiers, Asgaridan," said Laufey.

"And it would give _me _great satisfaction to make blueberry crepes out of you with my hammer!" roared Thor.

"Tsk. Tsk. See how you Asgardians hunger for violence? Don't ever let it be said you are better than us…"

"We ARE better," cried Thor, "And we will gladly fight you in war!"

"Very well," said Laufey, then addressing the audience in the stands, "Just know that the playing fields will not be even this time, Asgaridans. There will be rivers of blood running outside your homes."

Loki watched as the councillors muttered amongst themselves. He knew they were cowards. They had never before heard of a weapon powerful enough to bring on the Odinsleep, and they were afraid.

"Wait!" shouted Loki, "this does not have to end in violence!"

"Then it must end in compromise," said Laufey.

Thor nearly snorted. "Wait, Brother," Loki whispered, "we must hear him out. You do not want the deaths of thousands on your head…" Loki knew that real war was just as alien of a concept to Thor as sacrifice. "What do you propose?" he asked Laufey.

"We Jotuns are not the barbaric race you make us out to be. We would not wage war for no reason. We have come here today, because we are _afraid_." Thor laughed out loud. Laufey ignored him and continued. "We have had our new Frost Relics for quite some time, and _never _have we felt compelled to use them. We _trust _Odin," (Loki wondered how bitter _that_ sentence was in Laufey's mouth). "We trust Odin, and we trust in the truce between our peoples. But lately, we have become all too aware that Odin is _old._ Who knows how long he is for this realm… And if he dies, the Kingdom falls to Thor. Now, we Jotuns know Thor's reputation. And we have seen the fruits of his petulance for ourselves. Do not forget that Thor followed his father into Jotunheim with a band of warriors not three days ago. I can only assume he hoped to slaughter any Jotuns in his wake." Thor was silenced. His stupidity was being called out before the entire Arena. "We believe that lasting peace between our Kingdoms is not possible as long as Thor sits on the throne. There will not be a night that he reigns that we Jotuns do not pass in fear. Yes, _fear, _laugh if you will Asgardian, until you have tasted the horrors of war for yourself, you do not know the meaning of the word."

"_Educate me,_" said Thor raising his hammer. Loki zapped his brother with an energy ray. To Thor, and all others looking, it appeared as though Laufey had been the one to zap Thor. Thor could not deflect the ray because he didn't know its true point of origin. When Loki finally stopped Thor stumbled backwards.

"Please Brother," Loki whispered to him, "I have only ever _read _about sorcery of this magnitude… Laufey has the power to kill every person in this stadium." It was a load of rubbish but Thor bought it. He bit back his rage as he stood upright.

"What do you want?" Loki asked Laufey, sickened by the mock deference in his own voice.

"I want peace."

"Th-th-that's what we want too!" sputtered Ermir, Lord of Lagloon. Loki thought the man must have pissed himself.

"Then the Council of Asgard must eliminate the one obstacle to that peace."

"What are you saying?" asked Loki.

"I'm saying that the God of Thunder must be banished from Asgard!" There was an orchestral gasp throughout the stadium.

"Banish _ME_? Why you-," Thor lunged at Laufey but once again Loki kept him at bay with an invisible force field, seemingly controlled by Laufey.

"Either millions of innocent Asgardians will meet their death, or one man will be banished. Why don't we ask the audience which one they choose?"

"You can't do this!" yelled Loki, exhilarated by how well the charade was going, "Thor is our KING." Loki was loving it now.

"The King still lives."

"Odin will not let you get away with this," seethed Loki.

"We shall have to see about that when he wakes up, which may be soon, or it may be never…"

"You will feel the wrath of Thor, Jotun Scum!" shouted Thor. Loki grabbed his brother by the shoulders.

"Listen to me, Thor," he said, "I know what Laufey can do. He will kill millions if you remain in Asgard."

"I am the Kin-"

"Listen to me! You are. And you will be again. When Father wakes up he will see to all of this. But for now you must go. By staying here you risk the lives of every man, woman and child in the realm. _Father would want you to go._" Then Loki leaned in and whispered in Thor's ear, "If you stay, I fear the Council of Asgard will betray you."

Thor looked at the members of the council. They were eyeing him, muttering. Already he felt the dagger in his back.

"I will see to it myself that you return," said Loki, "_I promise_." What were promises to Loki now?

Thor looked into his brother's eyes. Never had Loki pleaded with him like this before. He felt as though the drain containing his entire world had been unplugged and everything was slipping away. He was supposed to be a warrior; he was supposed to fight for the good of Asgard, staying here was not for the good of Asgard. "Alright Loki, I'll go. I won't come back until I am summoned."

Loki had known all along this would happen but could still hardly believe it. _Thor, making a sacrifice?_

"Goodbye Brother," said Thor and he hugged Loki hard. "Take care of Asgard, and take care of mother for me," he whispered. He then said goodbye to each of the warriors one by one.

"This isn't over," said Fandrial, clutching Thor by the front of his cape, "you hear me? _This isn't over._"

When Thor came to Freyja, she kissed him passionately before shouting, "Now Go! Go! Before that '_Ice Giant_' kills us all!" With that Thor flew up into the air, leaving the stadium, he headed through the clouds toward the shimmering Bifrost.

"Thor, where are you going all alone on your birthday?" asked Heimdall.

"I'm going where all the fallen Gods go, Heimdall," said Thor, "I'm going to Midgard."


	16. Chapter 16

**I am blown away and humbled by your support. As ever, thank you for reading my story and adding so much extra goodness to my days.**

**I do not own any Marvel characters.**

Chapter 16: Payment

Loki watched as the sun set over the clamorous cuckoos nest that was the Royal Stadium of Asgard. The diaphanous pink clouds had turned purple and the moons were beginning to show their curves in the dusk. The day, which had begun in with cheering, gold banners and a sea of happy, round cheeked faces, was now ending in tears and hysteria. There would have been a fireworks display. There would have been a feast. There would have been songs sung about the winning horse and its' Charioteer. There would have been dancing and drinking till sunrise. Instead, thousands of spectators were left reeling as they watched the Frost Giants gallop back through the wormhole, a moment before it collapsed. _Right on schedule, _thought Loki. The Frost Giants were not half hearted when it came to timing. Loki looked around the Stadium. All around him people were crying and shaking. Most of them had never seen a Frost Giant before (or so they thought). And now, all of their prejudices would seem justified. Stories would be told from this day forward about the time Frost Giants ripped a whole in space and turned their joyous arena into a hell in the heavens.

Phase one of Loki's plan was complete. Now, all he had to do was wait till midnight when a small wormhole was set to open in the middle of his chambers. Laufey would collect his 'Frost Relic' and then be sent on his merry way. The plan had gone off so well, thus far, that Loki couldn't help feeling a twinge of anxiety; nothing in his life was ever _this easy. _

Of course the Council of Asgard held an 'emergency meeting' right after the debacle. And of course this meeting proved to be nothing more than an exercise in assuaging their guilty, cowardly consciences. "We did all we could," said Ermir.

"_Agreed!"_ cried another Councillor.

"_We could have done no better_…"

"_We prevented war_!"

"_We prevented chaos and destruction!"_

"_Odin would thank_ _us for the brilliant way it was handled."_

"_Odin would understand…"_

"_Loki, you shall reign as King now and we are lucky. You showed true genius in diplomacy out there in the Stadium today, your father would have been proud._"

Yes, Loki had shown genius. And yes, his _real _father probably would be proud; because his _real _father was an artist in evil.

As Loki entered his quarters that night, his heart rung with an absurd hope that he might find _her_ there. Perhaps if he wished hard enough, he would find her curled up asleep on his couch like a wonton stray. But only solitude greeted him, and cruelly meditative silence.

Loki sipped devotedly from his glass of brandy as he watched shadows dance against the wall in the flicking torchlight. His quarters were warm and empty but when he closed his eyes, she was everywhere. Erindis invaded his senses. In his ears: the little peel of her laughter. In his nostrils: the fading current of her fragrance. In his mind: a blinding vision of her. Loki sighed. Somewhere in the palace, his stepmother, Frigga, was weeping. Somewhere in Midguard, Thor was wandering. Somewhere in his sleep, Odin was cursing the day he had brought him home to Asgard. Somewhere in the Asgard Academy, Erindis was unpacking her tiny suitcase and resolving to forget all about the evil man who had broken her heart. And here he was, sipping brandy all alone. Loki smiled bitterly as he realized that his lifelong loneliness had been a perfect rehearsal for the life of a King. He had brought suffering to all that those nearest to him. He punished all who dared to say they loved him. It suddenly dawned on him, he was _meant _to be alone. Erindis had been an anomaly, a blip, a phantom oasis of happiness. Soon he would become numb to the pain of losing her, and numb to the memory of joy. Reassuring himself of this, Loki drifted to sleep on the couch in his chamber.

Erindis waited for hours in a freezing cell in the dungeon of Laufey's Castle. Through the darkness she could make out the glinting points of icicles as dangling from the ceiling. It was becoming increasingly clear to Erindis: Laufey used waiting as torture. There was nothing like a desert of time to break the spirit; nothing like hours passed in cold, with incessant dripping boring into one's brain. Indeed, every sound she heard was magnified to a thousand. The worst were the occasional cries from the corridor outside. She found herself wondering how many Frost Giants had been driven to madness, here in the bowels of the Castle. The dripping alone was enough to goad anyone out of their sanity. All the while Erindis waited, she wondered what was happening at the Solar Palio. Would Thor agree to leave, or would there be bloodshed in front of thousands of people, like some spectacle in an ancient Midgardian colloseum? Was it already over? Was Loki already the King of Asgard? _How happy he must be_.

Just then Erindis heard the jangling of keys in the lock and jumped to see Laufey, carrying a torch of blue flame, enter into her cell.

"How are you enjoying your accomadations, little Spy? Not too rustic after the luxury of Asgard, I hope."

"It's charming," said Erindis, sarcastically.

"Hungry?"

Erindis's stomach ached with hunger, but she wasn't going to give Laufey the satisfaction of knowing it. "I _could_ eat."

Laufey laughed, "I'm sure you could! How would you like to join me for dinner in the Throne room?"

Erindis's stomach did a summersault, "I'd rather starve."

"Suit your self," said Laufey with a shrug. "But perhaps should know that none of the prisoners in this dungeon will be fed if you refuse your dinner. And I should warn you, some of them haven't eaten in _days_, it might get a little _loud _in here tonight…"

Erindis shuddered. "You are _cruel_, King Laufey," whispered Erindis.

"Cruel? Me? Why thank you, little Spy. Cruelty is the sharpest dagger one can wield against the twin powers of chaos and ignorance. It takes a brave man to be cruel." Laufey's terrible eyes glowed in the dim torchlight as he said this. "Now, will you accompany me to dinner or will you listen to your prison mates' cries as their stomachs eat themselves from the inside?"

"I'll eat dinner with you."

"Ah," said Laufey, with a smile, "Just as I expected: the Little Spy is not brave enough to be cruel."

Erindis got up to go but Laufey stopped her, "Not so fast." He handed her a small white box made of whale bone. "Put this on. It goes well with your new collar I think."

Erindis lifted the lid, inside was a dress of the palest blue. She was left alone to change. When she was done, Erindis shivered, the silk was as thin as the skin of a fruit.

As she was led into the Throne room, Erindis saw Laufey sitting at the head of a long table leaden with food. Standing in two perfect lines on either side of him, was an assembly of the King's attendants. The Frost closer they stood to Laufey, the smugger they looked. (Not one woman was among them. Erindis had not seen a female since she had been here. She was beginning to wonder whether the Frost Giants were the product of some sort of genetic mutation reproduction program. They weren't, as she would later learn.) Above them, a chandelier made of ice crystals and petrified animal antlers, swung to and fro, a little dangerously.

"Welcome to Jotun hospitality Litte Spy," said Laufey with a magnanimous grin.

Fearing that her dress may be a little translucent, and not wanting to give the Frost Giant Assembly enough time to find out, Erindis hurried to the table. She sat beside Laufey in a special chair that was extra high, apparently built specially for her, with a little ladder at the side. _How considerate Laufey must feel._ Erindis looked around at the spread on the table. Every dish was mammoth in size and seemed to involve some variation of jutting ribs and slabs of runny, purplish meat. Beside her was a bowl of tentacles that she could have sworn she saw moving in the corner of her eye. Erindis's mouth went dry and her heart plummeted. Laufey looked at her and let out an exasperated sigh, "You Asgardians are so reluctant try anything new." Laufey signalled to one of the attendants who brought over a steaming bowl of what looked like blue algae and plopped it in front of Erindis.

"Thank you," Erindis said, before tearing into the bowl like a homeless dog. When she was finished Laufey looked at her with amusement.

"Good?"

Erindis nodded.

"You see? The Asgardians aren't the only people who know how to treat their guests."

_Always with the comparisons to Asgard, _thought Erindis,_ so preoccupied with how much better Asgard is…_ "Indeed," she said, "If Wars were won on the basis of entertaining, I'm sure Jotunheim would never have fallen."

There was a dead silence. Laufey's attendants looked as though they might rather be in the dungeon. Laufey stared at her for a long time, as though he were deliberating whether to slice her throat right there at the table, or have her thrown back into her cell and left to starve in the darkness. Then, all of the sudden, he smiled as he stabbed at the meat on his plate. "She has a saber toothed tongue, our little Sorceress," he observed to his attendants, "How she must abuse her lover with it!" With that Laufey laughed and the attendants laughed too, nervously and awkwardly at first, until the entire room was filled with the storm of their laughter and the chandelier shook. "Speaking of _your lover,_" said Laufey when the noise had finally died down, "I shall be leaving to visit him in just one hour."

Erindis's heart skipped a beat.

"Look how her eyes widen!" howled Laufey. "You miss the little Scoundrel already, do you?"

Erindis said nothing.

"He thinks he is pulling the wool over my eyes with that false Relic. Tell me, how do you think Loki will react when he finds out I've got his '_Apprentice'_? "Hmmmmm? Do you think he will finally lose that reptilian grin he wears? Do you think he will rant and rave and curse the day he ever met the King of Jotunheim?" Laufey bent down closer to Erindis's ear, "Do you think he will feel compelled to build me a _real _Frost Relic, to save the life of his _Dearest Darling?_"

Erindis was silenct. Silence would be her final strength in this ordeal.

"I know one thing," said Laufey, "I _will _get my Frost Relic, in the end."

"You will," whispered Erindis, drawing closer to Laufey, "you _will _get it, stuck _in _your end_._"

SMACK! Erindis fell from her chair to the floor. She couldn't feel the side of her face Laufey had struck. She knew he had exercised considerable control, because if he hadn't, she'd be dead. She lifted her hand to her face and felt a smattering of icicles there.

"That was your warning, Spy. I will not suffer such insolence in the future." Then Laufey got up and walked to the door of the throne room. He opened it and cried out into the corridor, "Tigor, you can come in now."

"C-c-coming Your Majesty!" called a frazzled voice. Tigor ran into the room. He was holding a complicated looking device, which Erindis recognized to be a holographic recorder.

"We can begin now," said Laufey.

Tigor set the device on the table so that the lens was pointing at Erindis and pressed a button to turn on a blue light.

"Look into that light, Spy," ordered Laufey. "Beyond that light is _posterity_."

Erindis tried to get up but her tail bone burned with pain.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" purred Laufey. Erindis realized that he was performing for the camera; he was making himself sound even more devious and sadistic. The more Erindis struggled to get on her feet, the more he laughed, and the more effective his recording would be. "I think that's it, Tigor," he said finally. "I'm sure that will be enough to give Loki the idea." Tigor turned off the recording device. Erindis noticed that the smallish Frost Giant wouldn't make eye contact with her. He had kept his head down and was solemn all throughout the recording. "You are dismissed Tigor." With that Tigor bolted out of the room, his equipment clanking with every flatfooted step, all too relieved to be allowed to leave.

"Well, it has been lovely dining with you, Loki's Lover. But now you must excuse me, or else I shall be late to deliver an ultimatum.

"You're making a big mistake," said Erindis, who had finally managed to stand up and was now limping toward the table. "Loki doesn't like threats."

"Neither do I," said Laufey darkly, "but in one's lifetime, one learns to tolerate a great many things one does not like." Then he smiled, "The guards will escort you back to your _suite_ in the dungeons. Pleasant Dreams, Sorceress."

At midnight, Loki was awoken by a swirling vortex of wind in the middle of his room; Laufey was coming to collect his prize. He quickly sat up on the couch and smoothed back his hair. He wasn't about to let an enemy to see him out of sorts.

"My congratulations to the New King of Asgard," said Laufey stepping out of the wormhole.

"Couldn't have done it without you," said Loki coolly.

"That's right, you couldn't have," said the Frost Giant. He glared at Loki with inscrutable red eyes.

"You gave quite a performance today."

Laufey smirked, "Magnificent, wasn't I?"

"Care to toast your success?"

"I do not enjoy _Asgardian _beverages," said Laufey with contempt.

"Ah!" said Loki, "but I can conjure for you any drink of your choice."

"All right then, let us see how well you can conjure Jotun Ice Ale."

"Couldn't be easier," said Loki as he waved his hand over a glass and filled it with a neon blue liquid. Laufey took a sip. "Well, how is it?"

"It is a fine approximation," observed Laufey before taking another drink. "It has the cool metallic finish and tickles the back of the throat just like _real _Jotun Ice Ale. But…"

"But what?" Loki inquired.

"But, it _isn't real_ Jotun Ice Ale, is it? It may taste almost perfect, but in the end, a fake is still a fake." Laufey finished his glass and smiled. It was a strange smile, which his mouth played no part in, yet it was still, oddly, a smile. "I have come here to be paid for my services, Son of Odin."

"And you will be paid," said Loki. He walked over to one of the tables where he had left an innocuous looking black box. He picked it up and carried it, with exaggerated care, to Laufey.

"Is it in there?" asked Loafey.

"Yes."

"May I see it?"

"Of course."

Loki placed the box into Laufey's outstretched hand and heard the Frost Giant's guttoral response as he lifted the lid and beheld the glowing blue object. "It is magnificent," breathed Laufey.

"I am glad it meets your approval."

"Meets my approval? It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!" cried Laufey in ecstacy. (Loki hadn't seen anyone get this excited over an object since a twelve year old Thor stole one of Sif's brassieres and slept with it under his pillow for three months). "How it glows!" exclaimed Laufey. He was cradling the Relic in his hand like a tiny child. "How it positively _pulsates _with power! Now I can tell you, Son of Odin, that I would gladly have slaughtered all my men for this Relic. I would gladly have slit the throat of my wife; and the throat of my mistress too! I would not have trade it for a wilderness of castles or for a mountain of gold. For what is better than pure power? What wine is more intoxicating? What honey can surpass its sweetness? What warm cunt can promise more pleasure? For this Relic, I would fry my eyes! I would tear out my heart! I would hack off my manhood! For this Relic, I would sell my soul," here Laufey laughed, "if I had any soul to sell, that is. Yes, a Frost Relic is dearer to me even than life itself." Then his nose wrinkled a little, "There is just one, _tiny_ problem."

"What is that?"

"Just like your Jotun Ice Ale, this Frost Relic happens to be a fake."

"Is it?" said Loki dispassionately, "How unfortunate for you."

For a moment, Laufey's blue twist of a mouth seemed to tremble with fury. Then it stopped and curled into a terrible smile. "It is you who are the unfortunate one, _Little King._" He bent down closer to Loki's face. "Don't you want to know _how_ I know it is a fake?" he asked.

"It doesn't have the same 'cool, metallic finish'?"

"No," said Loafey, "_A little girl told me_."

Loki's blood froze. He had the sudden feeling in his chest, like an axe embedded in the flesh, with ice water running over it. For the first time in his life: terror. Terror as he had never known it. Terror that stole the air from his lungs and the voice from his throat.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice she was missing?" said Laufey.

_Erindis…No. No. No. This is not happening. No. No. No._

"Don't tell me you took another woman into your bed last night while your little apprentice shivered in her cage of ice?"

_It isn't true. It can't be true. This is a lie. Look at his eyes, this has to be a lie! _

"She happened to be in the room when I tried to kill your father. Lucky for him, I suppose; _unlucky for her_. Doubly lucky for me!"

Somewhere from deep in the tunnel of his horror, Loki heard a voice that was his, "Have you hurt her?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?" With that Laufey pulled out a small holographic disk from the pouch at his side and handed it to Loki. Loki's hand were shaking as he waved it over the disk and it filled the area before his fireplace in grainy light. In it, a hologram of Erindis, rendered in life size, was struggling to get up. She was doubled over in pain. Her right cheek was bruised. '_It hurts, doesn't it?' _taunted Laufey's recorded voice. Loki felt as though his chest was about to explode. A deafening rage rang out in his ears. He raised his hand and blasted Laufey with a wave of electric shock so powerful that the Frost Giant's body slammed into the book case on the Northern Wall. Laufey collapsed into a pile of books and broken stone. Loki walked toward him and raised his arm to administer another blast.

"You won't do that if you ever want to see her alive again," croaked Laufey. Then he laughed as he lifted his battered limbs from the rubble, "I knew Thor had an impulsive, uncontrollable temper, but I never would have taken you for-"

"Where is Erindis?" demanded Loki, he was shaking.

"O, so the name is _Erindis, _is it? _How exotic. _She is in Jotunheim, safe, _for now_. But my men are under orders to kill her if I am not home, safe, in ten minutes. I believe my exact specifications were: _do it slowly._"

Loki had never been more overwhelmed by emotion in his entire life. It crashed down on him in waves. He could not think. He could not breathe. He could not be clever. He only saw her eyes. He only felt her fear. They were keeping her. They had hurt her. _He had hurt her. _All of reality seemed to dim itself around him. Nothing in the universe would ever matter to him if Erindis was ki- he couldn't allow himself to think it!

"What do you want?" seethed Loki.

"Come now, Son of Odin, you _know _what I want."

Loki scoffed, "A Frost Relic? You were a fool to believe I could ever produce one. It takes _thousands of years_ of compounded magic. It is impossible."

"Then your Erindis's continued existence is impossible."

Loki felt his stomach tighten. He would have to be cunning. He would have to improvise…. "What if I could procure for you, one of your original Frost Relics, the ones you lost at the end of the war?"

Laufey's eyes flickered. "Procure it then. You have three days."

"Three days? Even as acting King, it would take me _at least a week_ to reprogram the security settings in the-"

"Well, '_acting' _King or not, you have three days to get me my Frost Relic. By Thursday I will either have either _it_ or a dead Erindis in my arms. Your choice really. Now if you will excuse me," said Laufey, limping towards the wormhole, "I have to be home in time to disappoint a rather sadistic henchman of mine." With that, the King of the Frost Giants stepped into the collapsing wormhole. "Three days," he called out as the mouth of the wormhole disappeared into nothing. 

Loki felt dizzy. The dim light of his chamber now seemed horrifyingly vibrant. He was in a nightmare, but everything around him looked too real; the fireplace, the couch, the absurd glass of brandy, the pile of rubble and books.

He needed to think.

He would do anything to get Erindis back, to feel her safe in his arms, to never let her go again. He would do anything to kneel before her, smother her feet with kisses and _beg _forgiveness for what he had done. What agonies was she being put through? Surely none so vile as the agony _he_ had already put her through… His own words ran in a relentless loop in his head: _"Did you really think I could love you?" _Loki had convinced himself he had said it for her own good, but he knew now that he was wrong_._ It had not been for her own good. It had been for the good of his plan. He had destroyed everything he loved, _for what_?

Now Loki was posed with a choice: steal the Frost Relic, thus enabling Laufey to wage war on Asgard; or, condemn the person he loved most in the universe to death.

….Or, he could think of another plan.

Loki sat back on his couch and watched the torches flicker. The God of Mischief didn't like ultimatums… His lips curled into a menacing smile. Whatever demon had given him the power to inspire love, had also equipped him with a genius for deceit, and damn it, he was going to use it….


	17. Chapter 17

**Many thanks and much love! Hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

**I do not own any of the marvel characters. **

Chapter 17: The Heir

"And when he saw the hologram, Tigor… When he saw her all struggling and bruised…" Laufey's eyes burned with joy, "The face he made was _priceless_! And do you know what her name is? _Erindis_."

Tigor didn't want to know the details. He didn't want to hear a long winded account of Laufey's visit to Asgard. He would have preferred not to know anything at all about the helpless girl being kept in a dark cell in the dungeons. He understood that some things were necessary, but he didn't understand the pleasure his King seemed to take in the suffering of an innocent woman of science. Not having grown up in the court of Jotunheim, Tigor was yet to become habituated with the ways of cruelty.

"…And when I told him he had three days to give me the Frost Relic, his eyes widened and he just stared at me and cried, "Impossible!" I said, "then Erindis's continued existence is impossible!", and how he trembled then!" Laufey went on and on. He even demanded participation from his one man audience, "_What do you think of that, Tigor?_ _What do you say to that?"_

"Th-that sounds very, er, smart, Sir." Tigor was trying to make a batch of Riglian potion. He didn't know what the King of Jotunheim was even doing in the Royal Laboratory. Why would he feel the need to regale a humble scientist with tales of his intrigue? Was this supposed to be an honour? Yes he guessed it was. His mother would certainly think it was an honour; his wife too, and all his taller, mightier brothers. If they knew how frequently the King had spoken to Tigor lately, they would slap him on the back and tell him, "You're doing all right, Dwarf!"

"I do believe Loki would have given me the Kingdom of Asgard of a platter to have that little witch back," dragged Laufey.

Tigor tried to concentrate as he added a tiny drop of amuonic acid to a Petri dish. He hoped his "_Hmmmmm_," sounded enthusiastic enough.

"She won't be told of this of course," said Laufey.

Tigor added a pinch of moonstone to the liquid bubbling in his beaker. It turned a violent pink. Laufey glared at him. "You do _agree _that Erindis should have no idea of Loki's feelings, don't you, Tigor?"

Tigor swallowed hard. He hadn't heard the first part of Laufey's question. "Er, Yes, Sir."

"Yes, what?"

"Erm," Laufey felt his brow melting. He must have been the only Frost Giant who ever broke a sweat. "I'm sorry, Sir, I didn't hear the question."

Laufey reached over to the bubbling beaker and put his entire fist inside. The pink liquid instantly turned to a block of ice. Loafey picked it up and smashed the beaker against the table, shattering Tigor's precious potion into a thousand pieces of pink rubble. "Now do I have your full attention?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes, Sir." _Five hours! Five hours _it had taken Tigor to get that solution just right.

"I asked you if you agreed that Erindis should not be told of Loki's… _distress _over her kidnapping."

Tigor didn't know what to say. Why did the King care what his opinion was? He tried his best to have no opinion, when it came to his King's nefarious deeds. The truth was he didn't at all understand why a harmless young woman had to be told her lover didn't care about her. She was already millions of lightyears away from home, sleeping on a hard, dank floor; this seemed like an unnecessary touch of cruelty.

"Personally, I think it would give Erindis great anguish to think that her lover has forsaken her," said Laufey, "to think that she has been abandoned to spend the rest of her days, rotting, in our fair realm…"

"Erm, yes, I imagine she would be very sad to hear-"

"She WOULD be!" exclaimed Laufey, red joy colouring his eyes. "She would be _very _sad to hear it! And do know what do sad, lonely, abandoned people do sometimes?"

"Um…"_ They try to make Rigalian potions?_

"Don't tell me _you_ don't know about sad, lonelypeople, Tigor! '_Sad _and _Lonely_' will probably be etched into your tombstone, if you can afford one!"

Laufey drew closer to Tigor and whispered, "I'll tell you what they do: they get angry. They get _very angry_." Laufey was practically frothing at the mouth. "Something happens to a person when they are betrayed: they float upstream from themselves; they float upstream from their own values. If a person suffers enough, they can become _anything._ They can _do_ anything. There is no limit to how much their soul can be deformed. They can become the very roaring thing that looms in the shadows of their nightmares. They can become evil's avatar. Pain and anger, when properly channelled, can be the most effective weapons of all." Laufey smiled. "You wonder why I am telling _you _all this, don't you?"

Tigor was puzzled, but he didn't know if an honest answer would earn him a smack on the head. "I-I suppose that, yes, I am a little curio-"

"How long have you been a scientist, Tigor?"

Tigor had been a scientist ever since he was been rejected by the Jotun Military Academy_, what a mercy that was!_ "Ages, Sir."

Laufey nodded his head. "From what I hear, your are a man of research, experimentation and quiet study, and you have shown brilliance in your field."

"Well, I wouldn't-"

"You are good at what you do?"

"W-well yes, Sir, I am."

"But what you do is considered somewhat _low grade _by our people."

"Yes Sir, it is." Tigor would never have bothered to deny it. 'Scientist' was just a notch above 'whore' in prestige in the eyes of most Jotuns. In Jotunheim the art of sorcery was ancient, lost to the rubble of time. No one seemed to understand that it was possible to use science to recapture the golden age, to become powerful again. The processes of science and sorcery were too complicated and slow; nobody cared about them. Nobody, it seemed, except the King.

"What if you could be the one to change all that, Tigor?" Laufey observed him with an owl's precision.

"H-how could _I_, Sir?"

"The Jotuns fail to realize how ingenious some of your technological inventions are. I doubt any Asgardian has seen like of your Sorcery suppressing collar, for one thing."

Tigor blushed purple. "Thank you, Sir."

"However, in most respects, the Jotun grasp of Science and Sorcery is far behind that of the Asgardians. We simply do not have the breadth of knowledge they have, would you agree?"

"No question, Sir."

"But what if we had someone, Tigor, you were to have an expert from Asgard working by your side, sharing their knowledge. Would you say that might level the playing field a little?"

Tigor was confused. "Well obviously, Sir. But I don't see how that could-" then it dawned on him.

"Yes, Tigor," said Laufey, "_if we had the girl on our side..._"

The idea had first come to Laufey when as he heard Erindis yell, "_I am not his beloved!" _There was an unmistakable crack of despair in that voice, as if some great injustice of the heart had already been committed. Laufeyknew that, when one was unhappy in love, there were two beings competing for dominance inside them: the masochistic angel; and the coal eyed demon of rage. If he could exploit the Erindis's emotions, maybe he could win her allegiance. He already knew that she was unusually sympathetic to Jotuns; most Asgardians would have been happy to let their Frost Giant dungeon mates starve. There was also the way she had winced when he had asked whether or not she thought Odin _cared about her._ It told him she was relatively alone in the world, in search of some surrogate family… _Such people are always the easiest to manipulate. _All in all, Laufey felt as though he had won the lottery; he had, in his hands, a powerful sorceress, in the shape of poor, confused, lovesick young girl. Having a Frost Relic in his possession would certainly be the beginning to his return to power. But Jotunheim needed more if it was going to defeat Asgard in all out war. It needed sorcery. It needed Erindis.

"I don't think she will agree to help us, Sir, and I don't see how you could force her cooperation." The truth was Tigor _could _imagine how Laufey might 'force her coorperation' but preferred not to think about it.

"Don't be absurd, Tigor, nobody's going to force anybody to do anything." Said Laufey. "We won't need to. In time, the little Sorceress will be serving us of her own accord."

Tigor was dubious but he didn't say anything. The most frightening thing about Laufey was his relentless, single minded belief in his own plans. And the way he said it, it almost made one believe him. Tigor was sickened and hypnotised at once.

"Do you now see the reason I am telling you all of this, Tigor?" asked Laufey, putting his arm around the smaller Giant's shoulder and making him jump. "Erindis is about to usher in a new Jotun Age of Enlightenment, and she is going to need a lab partner."

All night long, Erindis had lain shifting on the cold ground of her cell, struggling to find a position that that was not torture to her spine. She squeezed her eyes shut and begged her mind to sleep, but it wouldn't. In the end she gave up and settled into a kind of performance of sleep; with her eyes closed and her cheek against her hand, and her ears alive to the sound of dripping.

She thought about Loki, back in his Palace in Asgard. What had he done when he heard she was kidnapped? Had Laufey tried to trade her for a real Frost Relic? _Ha! _How disappointed the King of Jotunheim must have been, when he found out his bargaining chip was worthless. Erindis shivered, what was going to happen to her now? She could get used to this discomfort. She could live in the darkness. She could count her life in scratch marks on the walls of her cell. She could suffer cold and she could suffer pain; what she could not suffer, however, was knowing she was never going to see Loki again for as long as she lived. The thought that she might die, without ever again having drunk in that beloved voice, or that pale, pitiless face, it was too much. It was unacceptable even to the darkest corners of her imagination. Erindis vowed that, no matter what happened to her here, and no matter how indifferent Loki was, she would_, _somehow, live to see him again.

In the morning- which Erindis could not be sure was really morning- one of Laufey's Attendants came to inform her that she was to meet the King in the throne room. Erindis could have refused, but she was thankful for any opportunity to escape the freezing monotony of her prison.

Laufey was waiting for her in the throne room. He seemed to be in high spirits. (Could it be possible? Had Loki struck some deal with him in exchange for Erindis? _NO! _Erindis chided herself for even thinking it.) The table was covered with an assortment of Asgardian breakfast foods. Erindis could hardly believe her eyes. The peaches blushed. The cutlery seemed to wink at her. Was this some cruel mirage? Erindis looked at the King of Jotunheim in disbelief.

"I hope it meets your approval," he said.

The table beckoned, but Erindis didn't move.

Laufey sighed. "It isn't poisoned," he said, "When I want you dead, my Dear, _you'll know it_."

Erindis climbed the ladder of her chair. Her first bite of toast was a wary one, her second, ravenous. Laufey observed her while she ate.

"Aren't you going to ask?" he said once she had finished.

"Ask what?" Erindis knew what. She was afraid to ask. If she asked Laufey what Loki had said when he found out she had been kidnapped, there would be no more comforting veil of uncertainty; there would be no more _maybe. _She would know the truth, and the truth would be vile and horrible. She would know, once and for all, thatLoki didn't love her.

"Don't you want to know how Loki reacted when I told him you were being held prisoner in Jotunheim?"

"I can't imagine the news would have bothered him much, on his triumphant day," she said. She tried to sound like it was a foregone conclusion, like she had no hope of the contrary, like her lungs had not seized from suspense. She was giving a piss poor performance.

Laufey said nothing and glared at her. Slowly his expression began to change from amusement to sympathy. "You really do _love _him, don't you?"

Worse than Laufey's scorn, worse even then his violence, was his _pity._ Erindis wasn't going to satisfy him with answer, but even she could tell, she wouldn't have to.

Laufey sighed, "So much devotion, for someone so unworthy of it…" Then Laufey smiled a little sadly, "But then, that's what makes it beautiful, isn't it? That's what makes it, _poetic._"

"If you want poetry, King Laufey, go to the theatre. Leave me alone," with that Erindis got up to leave the table.

"Wait," said Laufey, his tone surprisingly gentle. "I apologize, Ms. Erindis. There is no need for you to storm off."

So, Loki had told Laufey her name, _wonderful, now he can properly address me while he humiliates me._ "I've been fed," she said, "There is no reason for me to stay."

"You have been fed Ms. Erindis, but there _is _reason for you to stay; your heart still teeters in uncertainty." Was the King of Jotunheim a mind reader?

Erindis sat back down. "All right, what did he say?" she demanded.

"I was surprised," began Laufey, "I knew that Loki was a hateful _cur_ of a man, but even I couldn't have guessed he would be so… cold. I am sorry to report that you were right in your prediction, Ms. Erindis. When I told him of your circumstances, Loki was _unmoved. _I may as well have been reporting the loss of a cat. I had gone there hoping to use you as leverage. I thought he might be willing to trade the real Frost Relic for your safe return to Asgard. How wrong I was! He just looked at me as though I was a rambling fool. '_Erindis?' _he said, '_she means nothing to me.'"_

A day ago, Erindis had not been able to imagine being in greater pain than she was then. She had been wrong. There were no natural limits to heartache; no threshold that, once crossed, would evaporate the soul. There was no final precipice of pain that would turn the mind, mercifully, to dust. There could always be more. Even the worst times, could get worse.

For a long time she said nothing. Laufey stared at her intently. "I am sorry," he said.

"I'm sure you are," she whispered. The stillness of her voice surprised her. "You are sorry because you know I am worthless to you."

Laufey's eyes flashed, "You are far from worthless to me, Erindis. And believe it or not, I _am_ sorry to be the messenger of this news." Laufey's hand traced the quickest, lightest of touches on Erindis's forearm, leaving behind a brilliant pattern of frost. Erindis felt tears begin to roll down her cheek. "Do not cry little Erindis," said the Frost Giant, "Love always becomes mutilated in the harsh light of reality. Once one realizes this, one can begin to endure it."

Erindis supposed she should be thinking rationally about her future. She was still in Jotenheim. She was still a captive. But the thought of freedom did not rouse her as it should have.

"How would you like to sleep in a _real_ bedchamber tonight?" asked Laufey.

Erindis sprung from her reverie and stifled a gag, "You must be joking!"

Laufey laughed, "I didn't mean _my _bedchamber! Honestly, _Asgardian women are so vain…_ I assure you, unless you had a past career as some sort of contortionist, neither of us would derive much pleasure from what you are implying. I meant _your own _bedchamber."

"Why?"

"_Why? _How cynical you are! Does one need a reason to be hospitable?"

"You do. I doubt you'd piss on a burning man if you couldn't somehow benefit from it!"

Loafey laughed again. "Heartache has not dulled the little Sorceress's wit, I see!"

"Nor turned her brain to mush, King Laufey."

"On the contrary," agreed the Frost Giant, "it has actually _improved_ your powers of perception. See how clearly you can think when your are not addled by love? You are right, I do have an agenda," Laufey bent down a little closer, "I think you and I could become great friends."

Erindis laughed out loud. It was a bitter laugh and poured out of a place deep within her body.

"I offer you friendship and you give me scorn!" cried Laufey in mock affront. "And you Asgardians have always been so proud of how '_peaceable_' you are…" Then Laufey seemed to recognize an opportunity to broach a new subject. "Though, I fear Asgard will not remain so _peaceable_ for long…" His brow darkened as he said this.

"We have never invaded a realm," said Erindis.

"Not _yet._ But now Odin sleeps..."

Erindis glared at the King of Jotuns. She knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was going to try to convince her that Loki was a danger to the safety of Jotunheim. He was going to try to use her personal grief to convince her to work for him. She had known that this was coming. Laufey was not about to let a powerful sorceress just go home. But he knew he couldn't force her to help him, because then he would never be able to trust her. No, Erindis would have to help him _willingly_, and she would only agree to do that once she was sufficiently brainwashed. First, he would tell her the sad stories about how defenceless Jotunheim was…

"Without our Frost Relics, Jotunheim is defenceless against Asgard."

_Right on_ _cue._

Laufey's eyes were as wide as poppies. All in all, Erindis thought it was a pretty good approximation of fear. "When I was in Asgard, _I saw the hatred in Loki's eyes._ He despises Frost Giants. He would have no qualms about slaughtering our entire race." Then Laufey leaned in and whispered, as if the walls were listening, "Loki came to power with _my _help. Nobody in Asgard knows this. Don't you see, Erindis? We know too much, you, me, _all of us_! Loki cannot live with the threat that we might somehow make his treason known to all. He will kill us to keep his secret."

"How can we 'make his treason known to all' if Jotuns have no way of traveling to Asgard?"

Laufey's arched his bald brow. "Jotuns don't, _but sorceresses do._"

Erindis laughed, "You don't honestly think Loki feels threatened by my presence here?" Erindis had to be careful. Laufey couldn't be made aware of how easily she saw through him.

"You know the recipe to the potion Loki uses for trans-dimensional teleportation, correct?"

"No," Erindis lied.

"But, given the tools, you could, conceivably, develop a wormhole leading from here to Asgard?"

Erindis knew the theory well and supposed that, with a reasonable amount of time, she could make it happen. "No."

Laufey smiled, "Come now, Erindis, I may be scared, but I'm not stupid. I know you can do these things. And I know Loki knows you can do them. It's only a matter of time before he comes after you, before he comes after _all of us._"

She would never work for Laufey. Never. Loki could send a thousand assassins to kill her, she would never do it!

"But this isn't about you Erindis," said Laufey, "For it is not only you that will require protection from Loki, it is Jotunheim itself."

Erindis was silent. Laufey was clever, he knew how to play on her concern for others.

"We have women here," said Laufey, "Children too." He paused, "You've never see them have you?"

"No," Erindis admitted.

"Do you know _why _you have never seen them?"

Erindis did wonder, but she wasn't going to ask.

"They are hiding." Laufey nodded, "They do not venture outside. They are rarely even at court. Everyone is too afraid. Such is the precariousness of our lives in the realm of Jotunheim. Every morning, we ask ourselves, '_is this the day the all-powerful Asgard decides to crush Jotunheim under its thumb?'_ Long ago, our power was stolen from us by Odin. For centuries we have lived under his mercy. We dreaded the day he would fall. We trembled for the day that one of his sons would take the throne and decide that our _beggared _Kingdom was too much of a threat, and blow us all into oblivion."

"Loki isn't like that," said Erindis.

Laufey smiled bitterly. "He isn't? How do you know? O, I have forgotten, you know him well… so well _you thought he loved you._"

"That's different!"

"_Is it? _Is it so very different? If he could so easily crush the heart of the woman who loved him, then what could stop him from crushing an entire realm?"

It was Erindis's turn to smile, "That sounds very sentimental, King Laufey." How airheaded did he think she was?

"You don't have to be sentimental to realize Loki is capable of evil. Look how he threw his own brother out of his Kingdom! Look at how meticulously he planned it! Even when Odin fell into the Odinsleep, it didn't stop him! And look remorseless he is now."

All those points were true. "I never thought I would hear you lecturing on another man's immorality, King Laufey."

Laufey looked down. Erindis could tell he was trying to look as demure as he could. "Do not mistake my patriotism; my love for my own people, my devotion to the interests of Jotunheim, for ruthlessness. I'll admit," he said sheepishly, "I have often fostered an image of myself as something of a _Brute_, but believe me, it was only in order to protect my realm. When enemies smell weakness, they strike the hardest."

"You really think Loki would invade Jotunheim?"

"Unquestionably."

Erindis furrowed her brows. She had to be careful not to make it seem like tricking her was too easy, or else Laufey would be suspicious. It would have to be a slow dance. She would have to offer resistance at first. He couldn't be allowed to think that she was waiting… waiting for the moment she had his trust, waiting for the moment when his guard was down, waiting for the moment when her collar was off…

"No," she said, "I cannot believe it! _If I believed Joyunheim truly was in danger_, then I would help you…B-but, I think you're just being paranoid!" Erindis tried to seem conflicted. "Please take me back to my cell now."

As Erindis was led back through the dungeons, she knew Laufey was already thinking up his next argument. Erindis wasn't buying it, but she knew her survival depended on making Laufey believe that she was. It would not be too difficult: the King of Jotunheim was overly confident in his own ability to manipulate. He expected to win. He expected she could be moulded like frost under his fingertips. He was wrong. When it came to manipulation, Erindis had spent the past few weeks living alongside and learning from the best.

That morning, in the sunless privacy of his main chamber, Loki settled down to read a book that he believed might help him in his plan to rescue Erindis.

_**The History of the Realms of Impossible Artifacts**__ by Erik Alfgier and Britt Hjort_

_Chapter 12: The Jotun Frost Relic _

_The Frost Relic of Jotunheim is an object of legendary power. It contains the force of a thousand winters and can bring eternal night to any realm in the universe. It can devastate forests and valleys, majestic cities and humble villages, oceans and rivers alike; no living creature is immune to its wrath. It is even said, that the Frost Relic can freeze the tips of Valhalla and distort the stars themselves (__see 'The Frost Relic Mythos' pages 320-325)__. Also, it is well known that the Jotun Frost Relic cannot be destroyed. It is no wonder then, that our AllFather, Odin, takes such extraordinary precautions in guarding it! _

_The Jotun Frost Relic is believed to have been created by the ancient forefather of all modern day Frost Giants, The Great Ymir. Ymir used the Relic (then known as 'The Box of the Perpetual Moon') to exert his dominance over less powerful realms. This era of the nine realms is referred to as 'The Dark Period' (__see page 330.__) _

_The Frost Relic was reported to have increased in power when Ymir was succeeded by his brother Elgor (__see 'Elgor the Terrible' on pages 435-438)__, who is widely believed to have murdered Ymir by throwing a fishing net over him while he was in the bath and stabbing him to death with an ice dagger. The fascinating thing is that the Frost Relic was again said to have become yet more powerful four centuries later, when Elgor himself was killed with a sword by his own son Alfgir __(see 'Alfgir the Slayer' pages 338-340). __This seemed to confirm the suspicion that the Frost Relic increased in power every time a Regicide was committed. Although the phenomena has never been confirmed, the belief served to stoke the blood-soaked ambitions of just about every heir in the Jotun Royal Dynasty from then on. In the centuries following Alfgir's assassination, no fewer than 92 Kings of Jotunheim were slain, either by their sons, uncles, cousins, brothers, and in famous one case, sister __(see 'The Millenia of Jotun Blood' pages 340-400. also see 'Trazilia of the Red Tides: The 9 days Queen of Jotunheim' page 359)__. The cycle of bloodshed showed no signs of slowing down until the reign of Loafey. Loafey succeeded his brother, King Rignor, after the latter drank from a poisoned glass of Jotun Ice Ale __(see 'The Index of Glaringly Obvious Murders, pages 600-603). __Those who doubted that Loafey's reign would last longer than his predessessors' were proven wrong. Loafey quickly showed himself to be as shrewd as he was ruthless. Laufey used fear as an effective weapon against his enemies. He ordered the torture and death of any man who was even suspected of plotting his death. Even the beloved Royal Chef, Fritt Elfgaard, was arrested after a suspicious black grain was found in Laufey's soup __(see 'Fritt Elfgaard and The Ice Cream Sentencing' page 370). __The grain was later revealed to have been pepper.__ As the Dungeons began to fill and the bodies began to pile up, members of the Jotun court proved less and less eager to plot Loafey's death. Stories of Loafey's cruelty abounded. When Laufey's wife gave birth to a son, the child was never publicly seen, which led to rumours that Laufey had slain his heir for fear that he might some day kill and succeed his father __(this rumour has never been confirmed and inside sources say that Laufey adamantly denies it. To this day, no one knows what became of the child following the fall of Jotunheim. It is likely that he was killed during the final allied raid.). _

_For centuries, the Frost Relic (as it had come to be known), was used by Laufey to wage an on again, off again war between Jotunheim and Asgard. In the end Laufey was defeated by Odin. A Peace Agreement was drafted and the Jotun Frost Relic was seized by Odin and taken to Asgard. To this day, it is held in a vault in an unspecified area inside the Palace Complex. It can only be glimpsed by the most trusted members of the High Council. Few living Asgardians have ever touched the object. It is well known that the Frost Relic's power can only be accessed by a Frost Giant__**. **_

_Furthermore, it is believed, by most Sorcery scholars, that the key to the Frost Relic's power lies not only in the physical properties of the object, but its relationship with the user. __**The power of the Frost Relic can only be wielded by a member of the Jotun Royal Bloodline. **__Laufey is the last known living heir of the Royal Jotun bloodline. As of now, we know that Laufey has no more blood relatives and no living heir. It is the hope of Odin that, once Laufey dies, the existence of the Frost Relic will cease to pose any threat to the safety of the nine realms. ___

The last line sent a shiver down Loki's spine. The truth was that Odin had raised the heir of Laufey in close proximity to the weapon whose power only he could unlock. _Did this mean Odin trusted him after all?_ No. Loki couldn't allow himself to get sentimental. The fact was, Odin probably regarded him as just another weapon himself. He was the emergency blade, kept in the bottom drawer. If Odin had really trusted him, Loki would have known the password to the Dungeon alarm system.

Loki knew that the Frost Relic was kept underground, in deepest bowels of the Palace. There were wrought iron booby traps set to clamp down on any intruder. A robotic giant, known as 'The Destroyer' guarded the entrance. The Destroyer didn't frighten Loki. He had ridden on its back as a child. It had a head like a lighthouse and it could breathe fire. It was the closest Loki ever came to owning a pet. No, the Destroyer was the simplest obstacle to overcome, as far as Loki was concerned.

It was the alarm that was the real problem. It was set to go off the second the Frost Relic was removed from its stand, and could be heard throughout the entire Palace complex. Only Odin knew the password to reset the alarm, and Odin was, obviously, indisposed. If Loki was caught trying to steal the Frost Relic, there would be trouble. People would begin to suspect that he had been the true engineer of the Solar Palio Incident. Loki couldn't risk sounding off the alarm; which meant that there was only one thing to do. It didn't involve trickery and it made Loki very uncomfortable; but he would do anything to save Erindis. To see her again, Loki would have ventured into the depths of the blackest abyss, for his love for her was deeper than any abyss.

Frigga had remained alone in her quarters since the night of the ball. She gazed at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. Her golden hair was dishevelled and her were eyes red rimmed from crying. The breath of rose had finally faded from her cheeks. _I look old,_ she thought to herself, _but what does that matter, now?_ Frigga had not subjected herself to the spectacle of the Palio, and when the messenger came to tell her that her that Thor had been exiled, she merely nodded her head. She did not ask for details. The messenger must have thought she had gone mad. Frigga was surprised by how easily she came to live with her pain, surrounded as she by familiar walls and familiar objects. _At least both my sons are living. _That was no small thing.

As Frigga sat wondering whether she should colour her lips red and go for a walk in the gardens (were no bird or flower would look at her and pity her), she heard a knock at her door.

She was surprised to see her Stepson's luminously pale face. "Hello, Mother." Loki looked tired and troubled.

"Come in," she said, determined to remain calm in his presence.

Loki sat down on the gigantic silver couch where she an Odin always shared nightcaps.

"I have done wrong, Mother," Loki began. "Although, it must come as little surprise to you. It has always been my nature to do wrong, and you have always bourn it with grace."

Frigga shook her head. "No, no-"

"It is," interrupted Loki. A bitter smile formed over his lips, "A parent's reluctance to accept their son's monstrosity: it's rather remarkable; especially when it isn't even _their_ son."

"You _are _our son," said Frigga, "It is only _you_ that refuses to accept it."

Loki looked at his mother. His eyes were like wild swaying grass. "Sometimes, love, when offered, is more difficult to accept than poison," he said. "It is only once it is taken from you, once you, yourself, have defiled it, that you begin realize what you cannot live without…" Loki rubbed his temples with his fingers. He smoothed back his hair. He was determined to remain poised.

"What has happened, Loki, to make you talk like this?" asked Frigga.

"Laufey has taken Erindis."

"What! When?"

"The night of the Ball. She tried to convince me not to go through my plan. We fought. I said… horrible things to her. She must have followed me into the Healing Chamber afterwards-."

"What? But how could she-"

"I gave her a book on shape shifting. Apparently, she is a quick learner. After you and I left, Laufey opened the wormhole I had created leading to Asgard. He tried to kill Odin, but Erindis was there and she stopped him. I'm guessing the wormhole began to collapse before Laufey could finish the job and he grabbed Erindis and took her to Jotunheim."

Frigga had so many questions it was overwhelming. "Is she alive?"

"Yes, she is, for now. But she won't be for long, without your help."

"_My _help?" Frigga was puzzled. What could she do? She couldn't even stop one of her sons from banishing her other son.

"I need Odin's password for the security alarm on the Frost Relic."

Loki watched as his stepmother's face darkened. "I don't have it," she whispered. Frigga was as mediocre a liar as Loki was a proficient one.

"Mother…"

"I don't have it, I said!" Frigga was trembling. "And even if I did, I would not give it to you. I would not let you do... I would _never _let you do… _that_!"

"What is it that you think I am going to do?"

Loki's eyes unbraided Frigga's nerves. "Look, I appreciate that Erindis is important to you. She is a good woman and I know you love her, but I am not going to help you put the Frost Relic in Laufey's hands! Erindis, herself, would not want you to pay for her life with the lives of thousands of Asgardians. I am not going to help you allow that tyrannical brute the power to wage war on Asgard!"

"I am not going to allow him to do it either. And I know Erindis would rather die than have that happen."

"But you wouldn't! You wouldn't have her die even if it meant saving thousands."

"What I want is irrelevant."

"For once! For once, in your entire conniving life, what you want is irrelevant!"

"I'm not going to say you are wrong."

"O really?" cried Frigga, "What are you going to say?"

"I can save Erindis without putting Asgard in danger."

"How?"

"The Frost Relic can only be used by Laufey's heir, right?"

"Y-yes…"

"_I_ am Laufey's heir."

Suddenly Frigga understood. "Loki… You still can't risk it. Loki, it's too-"

"I have to. Don't you see? I have the element of surprise on my side. He won't be expecting that I will be able to access the power of 'a thousand winters' when I go meet him in Jotunheim. He will examine the Frost Relic, he will let her go, and then I shall-"

"But if something goes wrong…"

"There is always the danger that something can go wrong, even in the most innocuous circumstances. A carriage can crash into a building. The son of a good King can grow up to be a vain tyrant… it is the way of the realm. But I have to do this. And you have to give me Odin's password."

Frigga had never seen her stepson so earnest. How could she deny him, the one time he wanted to do something noble?

"All right," she said, "I'll give you the password_, but Valahalla help us all…_"

"What is the password?"

"All right, all right. The password, for resetting the alarm in the Dungeon is… _Odinsons._"


	18. Chapter 18

**I am very sorry for the delay in updating; I was swamped in school stuff. Thank you so much for the continued support. Much love and appreciation to all! I am so grateful I might just explode. I hope chapter 18 is ok.**

**I do not own any of the Marvel characters. **

Chapter 18: Ice Queen in the Court of the Frost Giants

After only an hour spent back in the grim repose of her cell, Erindis was visited by a Guard who informed her that she was to be 'moved.'

"Moved where?"

"Out."

Erindis followed the Giant through an endless stretch of dark vaulted corridors. Laufey's Palace was dank maze with an air of forgotten grandeur haunting every corner. Erindis was surprised when the corridor suddenly opened up into a gigantic hall that, she suspected, had once been used for balls. A chandelier, which had, in better days, dangled above the swirling heads of nobility, now lay in the middle of the floor, a mangled, frozen mess. An organ-like instrument covered the entire northern wall. It's multitude of silver pipes rose like a colonnade toward the ceiling. Erindis recognized it at once to be a 'Glacie-Carmen', the legendary Jotun pipe organ. No living Asgardian had ever heard one, but they were said to produce such beautiful music, that the glaciers sighed at the sound.

"Is that a _real _Glacie-Carmen?" Erindis asked the guard.

"As opposed to a _fake _one?"

"It doesn't look like it has been taken care of," observed Erindis, "Or played in a while… Did King Laufey ever have… _parties_ here?"

"The King doesn't throw 'parties'."

"Perhaps he doesn't _anymore_, but did he _ever_?"

The guard scrounged up his face in recollection. "The last party that took place in this ballroom was held many years ago. It was just a few days before Inge gave birth…"

"Who is Inge?"

A sudden sadness stole across the Guard's face."When she was alive, she was the Queen of Asgard. Everybody loved her. She had the most wonderful…" here the guard's eyes misted over, "…_black hair. _It was like a raven's wings, beating against the blue of her skin. The King called her his '_Little Black Bird_'." Erindis's heart lurched, _Loki's mother._ "Yes, we _all _loved her…" continued the guard. "She played that very Glacie-Carmen on the night of that last ball. The song she played was so beautiful... Everyone wept; the ladies and the warriors andthe butlers… Even King Laufey, he wept, though he turned his face from everyone. Such a beautiful song…" The Guard closed his eyes. In his mind, he could hear it still hear it, like the sweetest, secretest whisper of his memory, undiluted by oceans of time. He tried to hum it, but he had no pitch. He opened his eyes and looked at Erindis apologetically.

The Guard badly wished he could have recreated that melody. It seemed to him that everyone, even prisoners and enemies of the realm had a _right_ to hear Inge's beautiful song, and be able to carry it with them, like a diamond in their hearts, forever. But Inge was long Inge and nobody knew the name of that song.

"What happened to her?" asked Erindis.

The Guard's face darkened. "Nothing," he said, then modified his statement, "She gave birth and then a day later she was dead."

"Why? How?"

"There is no '_why_' or '_how' _in the court of Jotunheim," said the Guard.

"But what happened to the baby?" asked Erindis. What she really wanted to know was, _what do you think happened to the baby? _

"The child was never seen publicly. It was assumed he died."

"Nobody asked questions?"

"People who ask questions tend to disappear… or worse."

Erindis hadn't realized just how iron a grip Laufey had over his people. He was practically inside their minds. She gulped. If Loafey could dispose of a wife so easily, crushing Erindis would have been nothing. And, if he discovered she was double crossing him, he might be more creative than swift in his punishment. Erindis thought of how many courtiers Laufey must have ordered dead over the years…

"How does one live in a place like this?" Erindis asked the Guard, immediately aware of how naïve she sounded. '_The pampered Asgaridan,' he must be thinking, 'what does she know of true fear, of true hardship?'_

"_How does one live?'_" repeated the guard, puzzled by the question, "One lives how one _must _live. One lives as all our people live, and have lived for thousands of years."

"Perhaps because your people have not known any better," said Erindis.

"What is _better?_" questioned the Guard, "I serve my King. You too, served your King. Serving your King is what has brought you here, as a prisoner. If, one day, someone reads the book of your history; the story of a young Sorceress's life and death in Jotunheim, they shall ask, '_how does one live like that?' _And they shall be fools for asking such a question." Erindis felt a cold in the pit of her stomach. "The Guard looked at her with strangely placid eyes. "I see you begin to understand, yes?"

Yes, Erindis was beginning to understand. There were two beings coexisting inside of every Frost Giant; one who saw what was going on around him: the disappearances, the dungeons, the despotic King; and the other, who worked, ate, slept, married and went on with the business his life as if nothing was wrong. The former being was silent. He did not officially exist. He could not even be acknowledged in the privacy of one's own home. That was the way it had to be, if a Frost Giant was to survive in the Kingdom of Laufey.

Erindis was led to a room, which was furnished in what she guessed was Laufey's idea of Asgardian splendour. The walls were of polished white ice that glistened like mother of pearl. Water trickled down the walls in tiny veins (that was something Erindis still couldn't understand; how was it that the palace seemed to be melting all the time, but never got any smaller?) There was a gigantic bed with a little ladder on the side. It was covered in a mountain of white and silver furs. Shimmering gowns in every shade of winter winked at Erindis from the wide open closet (Laufey had probably ordered for it to be open on purpose, _for effect. _What kind of vapid bimbo did he take her for? _Pretty as the gowns were…_) Erindis was grateful for the sight of a bathtub with a shining silver dial and faucet. An enormous window afforded a view of night, clouds and a ghostly expanse of white leading to bodies of glaciers perked up against the horizon.

"This is your room now," said the Guard. "King Laufey has ordered me to tell you that he has taken great pains in recreating the '_Asgardian Crotch of Luxury.'_"

Erindis smiled despite herself. "Do you mean '_Lap of Luxury'_?"

"I believe he did say 'crotch' Miss."

"Never mind," said Erindis, "Lap or crotch it is very nice."

The Guard, having performed his duties, gave Erindis a little nod and took his leave, locking the door behind him, _of course._

Erindis had been dying for a bath and didn't mind when the water gushing out of the faucet turned out to be ice cold. She felt herself enlivened as she scrubbed her body, watching clouds sail across stars through her window. There were no guards posted outside; they knew it was madness for anyone to try to escape. Beyond this tiny citadel of civilization, there was no survival. The Jotun landscape was a fatal, desolate one, indifferent to the laws mankind. Erindis had read about the creatures that lived on the outermost rim of the realm. There were ones that swam beneath the frozen crust of the sea, who had enormous ruby red tentacles and eyes like glowing disks. There were beasts that wondered on land, with jaws the size of houses. They were said to live in hollowed out Glaciers and be partially sentient. Every once in a while an entire regiment of Jotun soldiers would disappear out there, and in the ensuing months, their remains would be found; skulls, ribs, teeth and spinal columns, scattered miles apart, amid stretches of snow that was coloured purple with Jotun blood. The generals would always claim that the regiments had been shot for desertion, that there were, in fact, no such creatures. This was in direct contradiction to the fact that Jotun Kings had, for centuries, captured and trained individual beasts to be of service to them in wars. Erindis guessed that there was probably still just such a creature slumbering somewhere in a dank chamber beneath the city, feeding on traitors and deserters, perhaps longing for its family out there in the icy wilderness… Erindis shivered. Why, O why, had she read _**Niff's Encyclopaedia of Monsters**_? There were times when books were anything but comforting.

Like now. Yet, even in the frozen armpit of the universe, there were books waiting for Erindis. Laufey had had left some scattered on the table (which was actually a footstool) beside her bed. '_**Transdimensional**__**Travel: Dream of the New Jotun Age**__' _read the cover of one. Erindis flipped through it and saw that it was filled with the rudimentary mathematical concepts for teleportation and the construction of wormholes. The gaps in the theory were glaringly obvious. Erindis knew that she could revolutionize Jotun science with a few scratches of her pen. She guessed that not even Laufey suspected just how useful she could be. She would have to be careful. Erindis picked up another book, '_**Potions and Possibilities: A Study in Recreating the Potions of a Lost Age**__ by Tigor Bjalki' _Erindis recognized the first name of the bungling Frost Giant who had designed her collar. Leafing through the book, she recognized several of the potions she had learned to make in the Academy. There were also some considerably more advanced ones. Erindis was surprised to find a chapter on Sulphur-Climide-Orellian Potion, or as Tigor had rather reverently named it, the_ '_Portal to Other Realms' potion_._ His list was missing only one crucial ingredient: Joric Stone. The method Tigor described for brewing was almost perfect. The only thing he not figured out, was that the Pupa Acid Solution had to be dropped in at intervals of three seconds, allowing it to thoroughly amalgamate in the boiling liquid. In the book, Tigors results read: _Unsuccessful, _but it was unsettling how close he was. It would only be a matter of time before he figured it all out... _He shall have to be led astray, _Erindis thought to herself. For a moment she wondered what Loki would think of her deviousness. Her heart cracked in punishment for thinking of him. These days, Erindis did not allow herself to wander into the deep end of her thoughts, for fear that she might drown in Loki. "_She means nothing to me."_ Those words echoed in her mind. How they savaged her!

Erindis decided she should take advantage of her newly comfortably solitude by taking a nap. She settled over the mountain of furs on her bed and dreamt of howling beasts.

After days without sleep, Loki too was dreaming.

_He was sitting on a throne engulfed by fire. The flames rose all around him, melting gold and stone, toppling down columns and ancient edifices. In his dream, Loki knew that the fire would destroy Asgard. The golden streets, sky bridges and towers burned as easily as if they had been made of whick. A few feet away, he could see Erindis through the flames. Her hair was flying in the air. Her eyes glowed. She was staring at him. Loki placed his hand into the fire. It didn't burn. Dream fire could not hurt him. He sailed through the flames toward her, but she kept getting farther and farther away. He tried to call out to her but she covered her ears. Then all of the sudden the fire disappeared and was replaced by a landscape of ice. Erindis had stopped moving. There were tears rolling down her cheeks which froze in the cold. Loki put his arms around her but felt her stiffen against him. He looked down to see that she had turned into solid ice. Only her lips remained flesh. "The next time you decide to play with a woman, Loki," said the lips in the face of ice, "make sure you pick one who is as heartless as you." _

Then Loki awoke.

He had fallen asleep over a blueprint of the Palace Dungeons. He had been laying the finishing touches on his plan for the Frost Relic heist. He had already reprogrammed the Destroyer. Now, all that was left was to go to the dungeons that evening, put the Guards under a spell, reprogram the alarm code, using _Odinsons, _and make off with the Relic, leaving the ready made fake in its place. Between now and then he could not afford to raise any suspicions against him. He didn't care what happened to him, as long as he got the Relic and brought Erindis home.

The complication was that Loki was expected to perform Kingly duties. One of those duties was the 'Royal Midday Reception', a ridiculous tradition Loki planned to abolish as soon as his trials were over. Loki was expected to sit in his throne room from noon to three and _receive _people. More often than not, these people had _requests._ No wonder Odin looked so wizened half the time… What could be more tiresome than a bunch of courtiers whining about property rights and asking the King to be their baby's Godfather. When Loki and Thor were little, they used to sneak into the throne room and listen to Odin deal patiently with the visitors. "_No Lady Thyla, your late husband clearly stipulated that the summerhouse was to be left to the horse. Idiotic as that is, it is also the law_." "_No, Sir Frig, the crown will not patronize your snail hospital." "Lady Helga, I will not forbid your son to marry a Midgardian woman, nor will I 'erase his memory'. What's that? I don't care what she does for a living!"_

Loki slouched on his throne. Outside the sun was shining and carefree courtiers were strolling in the gardens. Somewhere in Jotunheim, Erindis was lying freezing and helpless in a dark cell. There was no greater test of Loki's skill in maintaining control, in masking his feelings than having to sit here now. For a long time, no visitors came. It appeared that Loki had a slightly intimidating effect on his subjects. He was just about to call an end to the whole ridiculous exercise when Volstagg, Sif, Fandral and Hogun burst into the throne room.

"We would speak with you," said Sif matter of factly.

Loki looked down at her with annoyance. "You _demand_ to speak to your King, and you do not bow," he said coldly.

Sif seemed shocked, as did the other warriors. But they all dropped to their knees, one by one.

"That's better," he said. "Now what is it, Warriors?"

"We think you should find some way of bringing Thor back," said Sif. "There is no way you can allow the Frost Giants to dictate how Asgard is governed."

Loki raised his eyebrows, "Asgard is governed by a King, and it is not for his subjects to tell him what he will and will not 'allow'."

Sif was silent. She looked as though she might like to pass her sword against Loki's throat. "I didn't mean it like that, Lok-"

Loki raised an eye brow.

"_Your Majesty_."

"I am afraid bringing back Thor at this moment is impossible," said Loki.

"But surely there must be some way!" cried Fandral, "he can come back and go into hiding, he can wear a disguise!"

"Do you really think my brother will agree to '_go into hiding'_?"

Fandral could not argue with that.

"Thor shall not have to go into hiding!" cried Volstagg, "He is Odin's heir! Let the Frost Giants come after us, if they dare, we shall whip their hides until they are nice and peaked, like the tips of meringue!"

Loki blinked. "Nobody's 'hide' will be whipped," he said, "and the punishment will be severe for anyone who decides to take the matter into their own hands. Thor is exiled. I'm not saying I want Thor gone anymore than you do-"

"Don't you?" The warriors turned in shock to see that it was the quiet, stoic Hogun who had spoken.

Loki gazed squarely at Hogun. "No," he answered calmly.

Hogun didn't blink. "Hmmm," was all he said.

"Now, is there anything else I can help you Warriors with? Any tax problems perhaps? Anyone cheated out of their inheritance by a mule?"

They all glared at Loki with loathing. At least now they were no longer pretending to like him, because he was Thor's brother. Sif walked toward the steps of his throne. "Odin _will _wake, _King _Loki. And Thor _will _return to Asgard."

"That day shall be as happy for me as it will be for all of Asgard," said Loki, "I just hope nobody does anything _stupid_ or _reckless _that might prevent that from happening."

"I hope so too," said Sif. "By the way, where _did _Erindis end up going yesterday?"

"Haven't you heard?" said Loki, calm as glassy water. "My Apprentice has gone back to School."

Erindis jumped from her sleep as a Guard cleared his throat.

"You scared me!"

The Guard was unfazed, "Laufey kindly requests your presence in the Throne room." How polite her jailors were becoming! The room, the reading material, the formality… soon there might even be knocking!

When the guard left, Erindis looked through her new closet of gowns. She was determined to pick the plainest, ugliest one, so as not to give Laufey the satisfaction of thinking she had dressed up for him. It soon became clear that this plan was doomed as all the gowns proved to be rather lovely: thinner than a spider's silk, but lovely. She settled for one that was pale grey, with a little net of silver thread and pearls over the bust. Erindis didn't bother checking herself in the mirror; this wasn't second year of the academy, and she wasn't going to the Spring Dance.

As the guard escorted Erindis to the Throne room Erindis found herself wondering what time it was. Was in dinner yet? Was it midday? Was it still morning? It was so difficult to tell with perpetual darkness outside and no sleep to soften the hours. Insomnia had sharpened Erindis's senses rather than dulled them. She could feel every inhale Laufey's attendants took as he made his commands.

"Ah! Our Sorceress joins us at last," said Laufey, looking up as she entered the throne room. He was sitting at the head of the dining table, which was, for the first time since Erindis had seen it, occupied by an assortment of Frost Giants and _Giantesses._ Immediately to Laufey's right sat Tigor, the awkward Scientist. On Laufey's left, sat a female Frost Giant wearing a crown encrusted with smoky, snow ball sized stones, which Erindis recognized to be diamonds in their roughest, purest form. She was decked out in other gems that seemed strung straight out of the ore. Her dress had a silver breast plate that resembled armour. She glared at Erindis like it was the first day of school. The red of her eyes was a shade darker than Laufey's and she had white hair which she wore, like all the seated Frost Giantesses, in complicated, almost architectural shapes piled on the top and sides of her head. Beside her, sat another woman, with an equally complicated, multi-sided hairstyle. This woman had less jewellery and who wore a slightly smaller crown. Something in Erindis's brain immediately clicked and told her, _this is the wife, and this is the mistress. _So Laufey had taken a new wife after Loki's mother… All the Giants at the table looked down from their height at Erindis. She felt like a roll of bread must feel at a picnic.

"Since you shall live in our realm, _indefinitely, _I thought it might be time you dined with some esteemed members of the court." With that Laufey turned to the Giantess with the bigger crown, "Halla, move over a seat, let Erindis sit beside me, you can sit beside Sturla," he commanded. The woman named Halla looked as though she might like to flip over the entire table, but she obeyed her husband. The woman with the smaller crown, who was named Sturla, smirked. "Sit," Laufey ordered Erindis.

Erindis struggled to reach the top of her seat (there was no way Halla was helping). Laufey snapped his fingers and Erindis was presented with a bowl of the blue algae she had found strangely delicious the night before. The way everyone was glaring at her, she may as well have been have had gills on the side of her face. "Many of my younger courtiers have never seen an Asgardian before," explained Laufey. "They find you most interesting."

A snort echoed from across the room. "_Interesting _is not the word I would use," said a gruff looking Frost Giant seated at the far end of the table. A stunned silence descended upon the room. Everyone looked at him, then at Laufey.

"What did you say?" Laufey's voice was blood curdlingly calm and soft.

The Frost Giant said nothing.

"What did you say, _Alrik_?" Laufey asked again. Then, addressing the woman seated next to Alrik, "Lady Ilsa, is your husband in the habit of being rude to distinguished guests in _your own _household?

The Frost Giantess trembled, "H-h-he's very stressed, Your Majesty, h-h- he knows not what he is saying."

"Hmmmm," muttered Laufey. "You know, Lady Ilsa, when a man has an offending tongue, such as your husband's, I find it is best for all concerned, that he should _lose it._" No one at the table looked at Alrik or his wife.

"No! No, please Sir," pleaded Lady Ilsa, "He is very sorry! He shall never speak so rudely again!"

"I quite agree with you, Lady Ilsa," said Laufey with a ruby glint in his eye, "for he won't be able to."

"No, no, please, Sir! Please, I beg you!"

Laufey shook his head, "I can abide a sword through the neck better than I can abide _rudeness_. Ms. Erindis is a new friend of this court. How do you think she feels to be insulted like that, in front of everyone?"

"I- I really don't mind," said Erindis, "Honestly I don't! Please don't hurt him!"

Laufey gestured at Erindis and said, with mock reverence, "You see? She is a Queen among women! She pleads for your sake, Alrik, after you insulted her!" Erindis thought Laufey was laying it on a bit thick. "Beg forgiveness!" commanded Laufey. "_Beg _for Erindis's forgiveness!"

"Th-that really isn't necessary, _really_-" said Erindis.

"You have already been slandered by the man you loved," cried Laufey, dramatically, "I will not allow you to be slandered in my court!" Erindis felt her cheeks redden. The Frost Giants and Giantesses were staring at her again now, their bald brows arched. The fact that she was a jilted lover seemed to add to their fascination of her. "Come here Alrik! Come kneel before this _Angel_ who has granted you the continued use of your vocal apparatus!"

Erindis covered her face with her hands as Alrik walked around the table and kneeled before her chair.

"I am sorry My Lady," whispered the embittered Frost Giant.

"Your address is to Erindis, but I want the _entire_ room to hear," said Laufey.

"I am truly sorry," said the Frost Giant more loudly.

Finally, Laufey was satisfied, "You are dismissed now, Alrik. Go back to the cabinet you crawled out of." Alrik scrambled to his feet and headed for the door. His wife also stood up to leave. "No, not _you_, Lady Ilsa," Laufey practically purred, "you must stay and _enjoy _your dinner." The humiliated Frost Giantess dropped back into her seat. Erindis felt spectacularly guilty. She ate her blue algae and longed to disappear.

"So sorry for that, Erindis," said Laufey, "We must treat our new resident with respect and courtesy. She must not prescribe to the common Asgardian belief that we Frost Giants are all savages."

First she had been called a 'guest', now she was being called a 'new resident'; which was is? "I know better than to judge an entire race on the actions of one man," said Erindis. She had been referring to Laufey and not Alrik. She could tell that Laufey knew this.

"Even if that man is King?" he inquired dangerously.

"Especially if he is King," replied Erindis, "I have learned that lesson, of late, Your Majesty."

"You are quite right," said Laufey. "Kings are only men aren't they? Even though some call themselves gods… Like men, they can be cowards. They can be braggarts. Some may even _fall asleep _when life gets to be too much for them. Have you ever heard that old Midgardian expression, '_The sleep of reason, produces monsters'_? I think that saying is very true. As a King sleeps, demons lay siege to his realm, and feast on its entrails."

"Is that has happened to Jotunheim, King Laufey? Does reason sleep?"

Laufey laughed in the way he did that made Erindis feel like he was going to slit her throat next. "May I ask you a terribly important question, Erindis?"

"By all means."

Laufey leaned in and made a serious face, as if he was about to ask about a matter of life and death. "How do you like your new quarters?"

"I like the view," said Erindis, not missing a beat.

"And the bed? The bath? Your books?"

"All very nice, Sir," she replied. "And it was awfully thoughtful of you to make sure that the door locked from the outside."

Laufey smiled. "My Dear, when I have reason to trust you, you shall be free to roam the entire palace, and the city streets, to your heart's content."

"And when will 'you have reason' to trust me, King Laufey, when I have pledged allegiance to the sons of Ymir?"

Laufey's eyes widened at the mention of his ancestor. "You are well read" he observed.

"In Asgard, one is taught the importance of understanding the history of one's enemy."

Laufey bit his lip. "Is that how Asgard perceives Jotunheim, as an enemy? Can a long vanquished, humiliated and broken foe, who poses absolutely no threat, really be considered an _enemy_?"

"The fact that I am sitting here at all indicates that you are an enemy," said Erindis.

Laufey made the face that Loki sometimes made, like he was trying to read her thoughts. "The fact that you are sitting here indicates that I believe in your capacity for mercy."

"_My _capacity for mercy!" shot back Erindis, "I have been kept in a dark room underground! I have been struck and taped with a holographic recorder!" Erindis saw the Frost Giant named Tigor wince as she said this last part. "I don't think that it is _my _mercy that should be in question, King Laufey."

Laufey smiled, "Very well put, Little Erindis. You see now, that no one is immune to the prejudices brought on by pain. When Jotunheim fell, our city was plundered, houses were burned, _children were stolen_."

"And you would like to do the same to Asgard?"

"Heavens, no!" cried Laufey, "We only wish to protect ourselves. Is it fair that somewhere out there, the King of Asgard has the power to turn us into dust? Is it fair that we are expected to simply _trust _in Odin's Sociopathic Son? Not knowing whether he might decide on a whim to invade us? So much power, held by a single realm… it is unjust."

"Odin has kept peace between the realms for hundreds of years," said Erindis. "At the height of your power you only wanted war."

"I only wanted _equality_!" bellowed Laufey. "I wanted my people to hold their heads up high! Believe me, Erindis, I long for peace. But peace is also freedom from the fear. "

_Yes, _thought Erindis, _and you long for there to be perpetual night in each of the nine realms as well. You long to bury Asgard in ice and enslave the survivors. _The worst part was that much of what Laufey was saying sounded perfectly wise and reasonable, only, Erindis knew he didn't believe in a word of it. The greatest liars of all were the ones who preached goodness while slandering their own brittle, hateful hearts. It was time for Erindis to play along. To match Laufey in his game. She looked at the King of Jotunheim meaningfully, "Do you really mean that, Your Majesty?"

For a moment, in the midst of Laufey's pious expression, his eyes flashed with naked pleasure. _I am winning, _he thought. "_Of course _I mean it_, _My Dear. Our cultures are always misunderstanding one another… It is a tragedy really. The weight of so much blood, the weight of so much history… Tigor here's father was killed in the last battle with Asgard, wasn't he, Tigor?"

Tigor seemed startled to be addressed. "Ah- y-yes Sir, he was."

"Good man, Blaeng," said Laufey.

"A-actually, his name was Bjord, Sir."

Laufey looked at Tigor with daggers. "Yes," he said, "Bjord died from a sword through the gut if I'm not mistaken. Ah well, at least he never lived to see you rejected by the Military Academy, eh, Tigor? Always a silver lining!" With that, everyone at the table laughed and Tigor looked despondently into his plate.

"Ah, but in all seriousness, Erindis," said Laufey wiping a tear of laughter from his eye, "even after centuries, the wounds are still very fresh."

"There can be no peace if either side cannot forgive," said Erindis.

"What a sage thing to say," remarked Laufey. "But I believe there are certain crimes, which it would be immoral to forgive." Laufey leaned in closer. "Tell me, Erindis, can you forgive Loki for his crimes?"

"Yes."

"All of them?"

"I forgive even the crimes I am not aware of."

"Because you love him?"

Erindis was silent.

"Can you even forgive the crime of not loving you."

"That is no crime."

"All is fair in love, is that it?"

'_All is fair', _the rule itself seemed unfair. "I have only myself to forgive," said Erindis, "for being stupid enough to believe he loved me."

"Does this twisted, masochistic point of view give you some sort of satisfaction?"

Erindis looked down at her plate.

Laufey smiled, "You are a puzzle, Sorceress."

"I do not mean to be, Sir."

"But you are. And I think you are badly in need of a drink." Laufey snapped his fingers and one of the Attendants brought over two cut glass goblets full of neon blue liquid. "This is Jotun Ice Ale." Laufey waved a goblet under her nose, "See how strongly it smells? It really awakens the sinuses doesn't? it" Erindis almost choked. "Shall we drink to peace then, Little Erindis?" Everyone at the table raised their glass (except for Tigor, who was still engrossed in staring at a slab of meat). Erindis knew that her days of easily declining liquor were over. She shuddered as the fantastically bitter, _metal flavoured _liquid filled her mouth. It burned the back of her throat as she swallowed. She couldn't help emitting a sound when she finished that made Laufey chuckle. "I suppose it may be a bit strong for Asgardian tastes."

_It might be a bit strong for an elephant's tastes, _thought Erindis.

Laufey savoured his ale. Once he had finished his glass, he turned to Erindis and asked, rather bluntly, "So, when did Loki first begin plotting against his father and brother?"

Erindis's stomach lurched. "I don't know," she answered honestly. That single taste of ale was making the room swim. Laufey seemed close and faraway at the same time. On her left, Queen Halla was giving her some deadly side-eye.

"But when did you first become aware of his plan?"

The liquor seemed to have loosened Erindis's tongue, and everything else inside her. She felt a hot buzz in her head and limbs. She smiled, "The day I… -that is to say- I wasn't _sure _he was doing anything_, _until, the day of the night… the night I went swimming in the creek." Erindis didn't know what compelled her to speak with such abandon. This ale could take down Volstagg, she was sure of it.

"Swimming in the creek? How _pastoral_," said Laufey. "How did you find out?"

"The fake Frost Relic… I found it. The Bastard left it there for me to find…"

"Yes, yes he is a _Bastard_!He played us all like little fiddles, didn't he?" said Laufey. His face looked lit up from within. "But now it is our turn to we play him! We shall get back at Loki for toying with out deepest desires, won't we?"

It suddenly occurred to Erindis that it would be a good idea to act more inebriated than she actually was. She let her eyelids droop over her eyes. "Yes!" she cried, "Yes, we will!" She let her head wobble a bit. "I'm going to help you King Laufey. I'm going to help Jotun-un-heim. I practicta- I practic-nully can't not even wait to get started!"

Laufey was grinning from ear to ear. "I can't wait for you to get started either!" he exclaimed. "You must have a good rest tonight. First thing in the morning, you can meet in the lab with Tigor."

Tigor looked up at the mention of his name. He looked around. What was going on? Something was going on. Something was happening. _You quit paying attention for one minute in this damn circus and something is happening. _The Sorceress was drunk. Laufey looked as though he might have wet himself with happiness. His name had been called and now everybody was looking at him.

"Isn't that right, Tigor? First thing tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir." For all Tigor knew, he had just agreed to give Laufey a full body massage first thing tomorrow.

Erindis liked pretending to be inordinately drunk. She let her hands flop awkwardly on the table. She grazed Queen Halla's elbow and felt the sting of frost against her skin. "Sorry, Hailie."

Erindis had learned, from her experiences with Loki that one was never more powerful than when one tricked one's adversary into believing they were winning. She wanted Laufey to think he had the power, to think she could bend easily to his will, to see her as a drunken, love-sick girl.

"Loki hurt me so badly, King Laufey," whispered Erindis. There was no need for her to fake her tears. Like all the best performances, this one required the participation of her truest self. Erindis exploited her real pain. "I loved him, and he hurt me so bad…" she said tearfully. He allowed herself to wail as she had never wailed, as she would never have let herself wail, were it not for her enraptured audience.

"I know, My Dear," said Laufey, "I know." The blue devil couldn't even help licking his lips. "Loki means to let you rot here," he said, "that is, if he doesn't come here to kill you himself."

Erindis gasped, "You really think he'd-"

"I have seen worse perpetrated in my time, Little One…"

_Yeah, probably perpetrated by you probably… _"I don't care about myself. Loki has _already _killed me," breathed Erindis. "Killing the vacant shell of my body will mean nothing… It is only your people that I am worried for…" _Asgardian Drama Desk Award please_.

Laufey almost howled in pleasure. "Yes, My Dear, yes! Think of the children! Think of the poor, frightened women!" Queen Halla rolled her eyes and tinkered with chunks of her jewellery.

"I will help you, King Laufey. I will teach your scientists about Sorcery. I will be your ally against Loki…. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything, Little Jewel."

"Promise me you will never hurt him." _As if you could_, thought Erindis, _as if you'd last a second against Loki's power. _

"You have my solemn promise." _It isn't a lie, _thought Laufey, _it will not hurt when I blast him with the Frost Relic; Loki will be dead before he even registers pain. _Being dead and being hurt were two different things.

"King Laufey…"

"Yes, Little Erindis?"

"I feel dizzy." Erindis faked hiccup. This signalled the end of the Frost Giants' Feast.

That night, as Erindis lay beneath the mountain of furs in her bed; she could not help but think about Loki. It felt unusual to try to fall asleep in any bed that wasn't his. She had known bliss for so short of a time, yet it had already etched itself into her being. She remembered Loki's chest beneath her cheek. She remembered the blinding blizzard of his kisses. She remembered the pale curve of his cheek, the way it glimmered in the darkness as he slept, daring her to believe her luck, daring her to trust her happiness. Then he would wake and his arms would encircle her waist… The recollection of making love to Loki was overpowering. Erindis knew that even if she escaped from Jotunheim, she would never be free. She might survive to walk once more along the white beach near her Father's farm, but this would only be an illusion of liberty. Her love for Loki would forever serve as her prison.


	19. Chapter 19

**Please forgive me! I have been very sick this past week. I was too nauseous to write and that's why I took a billion years to update. I promise hasty updates from now on! **

**Thanks for the support and readership! Much love, hope this chapter is ok. **

**I do not own any of the marvel characters.**

Chapter 19: The Cruelty of Beauty

All throughout banquet, the mask of normalcy which Loki was forced to wear grew heavier and heavier. He knew he could not allow himself to seem preoccupied, even if his mind was a million light years away. The thought of Erindis, _suffering_, haunted him the way an insect haunts a flower's honeyed centre. He could feel her distress in his own body. And yet he could do nothing, yet. It was torture, sitting there, in the midst of ladies with fluttering fans and men who grinned at them, pink from liquor and sunburn, and often triple their age.

'Loyalty' had always stuck Loki as the cheapest word in the world. And yet people bandied it about as if it was something real and significant. As far as he was concerned, a 'disloyal' man was simply one who adapted to survive. Now, it appeared he had been right all along: the Council of Asgard was Darwin's paradise. Everyone's lives had resumed, quite merrily, after Thor's exile. They ate and drank and danced as before; they wore the same hooded eyed, post-banquet expressions, the only difference was that they made sure to _sigh _more. When a councillor got carried away and laughed a little too hard, he would try to mask it with a whooping cough. ("Forgive me gentlemen, it must have been the altitude of the stadium, I've been hacking all day! Please do not think that I was laughing at your anecdote about the donkey and the Midgardian senator, I _was not. _And I hardly think such a lewd story- _cough-_ is appropriate at a time like this...")_ Is this what 'loyalty' is_? He was glad he inspired it in no one, except of course, Erindis, which was its own tragedy…

What confused Loki was that Thor was supposed to be _loved. _It was an unwritten law that had plagued him since childhood… Now it appeared that even the so called 'Goddess of Love' hardly seemed to miss Thor. Freyja had been aggressively flirting with Loki all evening. "I am so glad that little country Troll is gone," she said, referring to Erindis. "I knew she wouldn't last long here. How could a girl like that ever keep _your _interest?" Her eyes glittered triumphantly. Freyja sought male attention the way a fly sought out stench. And it was clear that she considered herself the only woman worthy of it. She needed to be desired to feel as though she existed at all. Freyja had invented herself as temptation incarnate, and, Loki supposed, that to many people, she was.

This gave him had an idea.

Loki shot Frejya a sideways glance that could have melted the Jotun Ice Caps. "Meet me in the Northern Courtyard in half an hour," he whispered. Her face lit up in a self satisfied smile. It was as though he had just proclaimed her the victor of some imaginary war between her and other women.

Half an hour later, Loki and Freyja were alone in a moonlit, tree filled cloister.

"I was waiting for you to ask to be alone all evening," said Freyja. "I am not used to men playing 'hard to get' you know…"

"I imagine you are not used to _anything_ playing 'hard to get'."

Freyja laughed her soap bubble laugh, then stopped and looked at Loki with sultry intensity. "No indeed," she said, "You will find, Loki, _when you know me better, _that I am like a honed missile, only more…"

"Woman shaped?" offered Loki.

"_Exacting._"

"Better than sonar, I imagine…"

Freyja leaned into Loki so that their chests touched. She looked up at him in a smouldering way, which, he assumed, was supposed to reduce him to some sort of raving ape. "O, but you _can't _imagaine…"

"Can I conjure some wine for you, Lady Freyja?"

"Please."

Loki waved his hand and two glasses appeared, hovering in the sparse space between them. Freyja drank and let some of the liquid dribble onto her bare decollate, 'by accident.' She rubbed the droplets into her skin with her fingers, as though it were lotion. "I'm so clumsy…" Then, when she had finished her glass, Freyja threw it against trunk of a magnolia tree. In another lifetime, perhaps this act would have appealed to Loki. "'_King_'", she purred against his ear, "How well the title suits you."

"Almost as well as flattery suits you."

"I never flatter!" protested Freyja, "I have no need to. No woman worth her salt does". She arched her back and bit her bottom lip as if it were a wonton strawberry. Never had a display of lust left Loki so cold.

"Come now, Lady, you and I both know that is nonsense; there is no key in this world more versatile than flattery."

"That _girl,_ your apprentice, I've forgotten her name… did _she_ flatter well?"

"No."

Freyja raised a golden arch, "I shall never be able to understand, Loki, how you managed to fall under the spell of someone so… artless."

Loki smiled. "If that was your perception of Erindis, then she is more artful than even I gave her credit for."

"I don't understand what you saw in her," said Freyja, before planting a kiss on the base of his neck. Then she closed her eyes and tipped her head back, as if waiting for his lips on her own neck. She was very confused when, after a few moments, it still had not come. "She was very plain, you know," she said, as if she introducing Loki to a stark fact. "You must have been squinting with your eyes and your brain when you looked at Erindis."

"I thought you said you didn't remember her name."

"I remember the name, but I _hardly _remember _her_," said Freyja, "how funny is that?"

"And do you remember much of _Thor_?"

Freyja smiled, "You are jealous…"

Inwardly, Loki balked at the notion. Outwardly, he smiled a mysterious smile. "Many men of the court desire you, Lady Freyja. You are supremely aware of that, I believe."

"I don't delude myself in thinking I am any less than I am," said Freyja matter of factly. "Beautiful women are as boring as when they think of themselves as anything less."

"And as when they _do not _think of themselves as anything _more_," said Loki.

"_More_?" laughed Loki, "Heavens, what could be _more_? No weapon is more powerful than beauty!"

"What about intelligence?"

"What is intelligence, Loki? Can an intelligent man argue against beauty? Can a fast man outrun it? Can a cunning man trick it? Can any man _win _against it? No. Beauty wins always."

"Except against time," observed Loki. "And Death."

Freyja laughed like a bird singing. Loki suspected that, somewhere in the back of her mind, she didn't think that time would ever _dare _to change _her_; and that death would be just another enthralled admirer, that she would be able to keep at bay with a few air kisses. "You obviously don't know what it is like to _be _a beautiful woman, Loki," she said.

Loki smiled. "I suppose you are right," he conceded, "I know nothing about what it feels like to be a beautiful woman… I know nothing about what it feels like to walk into a room and change the chemistry of the air inside it. To know, that a hundred men all have their invisible antennas up and honed on me…" Loki closed his eyes, imagining a scenario. "I make my way through the banquet hall," he said. "I can feel eyes on me, when I smile, when I dance, when I laugh with calculated 'abandon'. Maybe, at some point in the evening, a senator brings me a glass of cherry brandy and asks if he may sit beside me. I say that he can. He smiles a lot and says that banquets make him nervous, even though I think he seems very charming and not nervous at all. He asks me what my name is. He asks me what music I like to listen to. He asks me if I like to read. I tell him my favourite poet is Agmundr, and that my favourite work of his is the epic poem, '_The Spoon that Stirred the Stars'._ He recommends the works of Bergvior, especially the early years, the love poetry. He says I will love the way he describes the seven suns setting on Vanaheim. We discuss the operas of Eyvendill. His favourite is '_The Stolen Queen', _while I am partial to _'The Revenge of the Sol'Varr'. _He says that we should go to the Royal Opera together one night. He has a private box. He asks me how many brothers and sisters I have. All, the while we are talking, I am flattered by the attention of this man, but I do not kid myself. I know that this conversation is the means to an end, and that that end has nothing to do with the operas of Eyvendill, or how many siblings I have. It is because we live in a so called 'civilised society' that he must pretend to be interested in these things and that I must pretend to believe he is. I know that, this man, with his glinting eyes, and his brandy breath, is doing all the things society has prescribed he must do if he wishes to make love to me. It is an embarrassing charade. The poems of Bergvior have nothing to do with my lips, or my hips or the exposed flesh of my clavicle, which he has been glancing at all evening, like some starved wolf. He wants to conquer me, plunder me, cover my breasts with his mouth. He wants me in his bed, and on his arm when he is in public. He thinks I will look lovely covered in his ancestral jewels. He wants other men to see him with me. He wants them to be envious and think that he must be a very rich man and a virtuoso at sex if he can land me. He wants everyone to know that it is _he_ I once gave my precious, perfumed hankerchief to. And that it is he who has claims on me. He does not care if he ever truly knows me. All he wants me to be, is the screen onto which he projects his fantasies. To him, I am merely a reflection of his own desires, smiling back at him. To him, I am an object. I am a golden stag to be hunted and mounted above his fireplace. I am the smiling sphinx that guards the gates to his pleasure. I am a sculpture in the gallery of his life: expensive as I may be, I am worth it, because I make him happy, and more importantly, I make him seem more interesting to his friends. I am a riddle with no answer. I am not even a mystery to him, I am _an abyss. _And yet, ironically, I wield complete power over this man."

Freyja stared at Loki with her mouth slightly open.

"But, like you say," he said with a smile, "I know nothing about what it's like to be a _certain _beautiful woman in this court… What I do know, however, is that, like the powers of sorcery and royalty, beauty is not without its hidden edge."

Freyja chest heaved up and down against Loki's. She seemed quite overwhelmed, than laughed. "I cannot believe I ever allowed myself to entertain notions of ending up married to _your brother_," she said breathily. "You are the only man that _deserves me, _Loki!"

_Given everything I've done, you are probably right, _thought Loki.

"Take me to your chambers," she breathed.

"No."

Freyja blinked. "You _must _be joking…"

"No, not at all."

"Why not?"

"Because you are will be asleep in less than thirty seconds."

"What?"

"I put a sleeping potion in your wine. You shall wake up in three hours with no recollection of this conversation, which is really quite a shame, because it was probably quite illuminating for you…"

"You wha-" Before she could finish her sentence, Freyja collapsed forward and was caught by Loki. He carried her to a cushioned bench in between two trees. A more peaceful place for an after dinner nap could not have been found by Volstagg himself.

Then Loki closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of Freyja.

_POP!_

He looked down to see two lovely mounds pushed up to the top of his bodice. There was a reason why Loki knew what it was like to be a beautiful, enterprising young woman… He had found, over the years, that no other disguise was more useful in brewing mischief; and nobody was more beautiful and enterprising than Freyja. He smiled as he left his twin sleeping on the bench. Minutes later, 'Freyja' was bounding down the corridor toward the dungeons.

Fastbior was the brawny, bearded tank of a guard who spent every night parked in front of the entrance to the dungeon of the Palace of Asgard. Loki had always thought him to be ironically named, for he knew him to be among the slowest men in existence. Fastbior capable of looking at the same wall for ten hours straight without getting the slightest bit bored- and it wasn't because he had a whole world between his ears with which entertain himself. Loki knew that Fasbior was inordinately fond of three things: his Mother, Madeira wine and Ladies whose breasts entered a room well before they did. He was used to solitude during his long night watch. He was used to music wafting from upstairs and the distant echo of footsteps. Never, in all his years of guarding the entrance of the Dungeon, had anyone ever attempted to bypass him. Sometimes, for fun, Fastbior liked to imagine what he would do if he ever met an intruder (usually it involved a piano wire and a wooden paddle he had owned since childhood.)

But tonight was different…

It was shortly after Banquet when Fastbior heard the sound of footsteps advancing down the dimly lit corridor. His nostrils were seized by a thick, wandering current of perfume. "Show yourself!" he growled into the darkness, unsheathing his ancient sword. There was no answer. The clicking of the heels grew louder until it stopped and a figure appeared, silluetted at the edge of the torchlight.

"I had no intention of hiding," said a distinctly feminine voice.

"Who are you?" demanded Fastbior.

The figure stepped forward into the light, revealing itself to be a redheaded woman of astounding beauty. She was wearing a smile and a dress of the thinnest gauze. "Whoever you'd like me to be," she said.

Fastbior swallowed hard. "W-w-what are you doing down here, My Lady?"

The woman shrugged her milk white shoulders. "Looking for company I suppose."

Fastbior was certain he had seen this woman before, at court. Her name was F-… something with an 'F'. She liked to consort with that green eyed King. "Do you think you might be good company, Fastbior?" the woman asked, approaching him. She looked down at the sword in his hand. "Put that thing away," she whispered into the shell of his ear, "_It is a different sword you will be brandishing tonight._"

Fastbior dropped the weapon. He heard the clatter of the blade echo as it hit the ground. His heart beat like a snare drum. "Good," whispered the woman. "Now, close your eyes." Fastbior obeyed. "This might hurt a little," she warned, "but then, you're such a strong man, you probably won't feel a thing…" The next thing he knew, a surge of energy hit his chest and caused him to collapse against the wall. It was like being shot through with a bolt of lightning. 'What _a shame I shall be too ill to make love_', was Fastbior's last thought as he slid down the wall and lost consciousness.

Satisfied with her handiwork, Freyja leaned forward, closed her eyes and with a _POP! _became Loki again. Loki knew he had a good hour before Fastbior woke up. By then, he expected to be safely ensconced in his quarters, with the genuine Frost Relic in his possession.

Loki pushed open the wrought iron doors of the dungeon and found himself greeted by silence and darkness. He took three steps forward, reached for a lever to his right and pulled on it. Suddenly the entire dungeon lit up, with torches of blue flame lining the walls. Some distance away, Loki could see The Destroyer. There was no fire burning in its lighthouse face. Loki's manipulations ensured the mechanical fiend slept more deeply than Odin. Suddenly, there was a loud creak and a slightly robotic, disembodied voice echoed from the walls.

"Greetings AllFather," said the voice of the Dungeon security system.

Loki did not hesitate before answering, he was the perfect mimic. "Good Evening," he said in Odin's gruff timber. "I have come to reset the alarm for the Frost Relic."

"Password please."

"Odinsons." For a moment, Loki was seized with terror. _What if it was not the right word_? He felt as though the earth beneath his feet were falling, separating itself from the stars. He tried to breathe. At any moment, his heart, that violent, renegade organ, would leap out of him, fly into the vault of the ceiling, and beyond it into the empty night. What if he failed Erindis? What if she died? How could he live without her? He imagined the passing of years spent in this court of colourless people… Life itself would be his punishment.

"Password accepted," said the voice of the security system. A wave of relief rushed through Loki. "What is your request?"

"I wish to retrieve the Jotun Frost Relic."

The security system wheezed as it processed his request. "Proceed." Loki was glad that machines did not get suspicious or ask questions. The stone wall at the back of the room lifted as though it had been no more than a curtain, brushed aside by the hand of royalty. Loki breathed as he spotted the Relic, bright blue and deadly: his inheritance. It was eerily identical to the replica he had created himself. And yet it was an unmistakably alien object, like him. Loki and the Relic had arrived in Asgard together. It was his closest relation; it was more than that, it was _his twin. _It filled the room with its sinister glow. Inside it, a million blizzards raged, and Loki could tell, they did not like to be kept contained. Instinctively, he plunged his hands into the sides of the Frost Relic. He felt a cold that was strangely _warm _spread from his fingers into his chest and head. He looked down to see that his arms had turned blue. Had there been any small part of him that refused to _believe_; had any lingering vestige of his soul required some final evidence as to his true identity, here it was. Loki was Jotun. His ancestors were murderers and tyrants. He felt their compounded violence surge from the Relic into his veins. He felt their power. He felt their hatred. He felt their lust. He felt their zeal for blood. It was all there, all the evil in history poured into this perverse little box. The Relic seemed to be responding to him, reading him, _feeding _him. It glowed brighter the longer he kept his hands inside. Loki's head throbbed. It was pain and it was ecstasy at the same time. For a moment he forgot everything; his life, Asgard, Erindis, _everything._ There was only power and blood and ice. He saw millions of lives trampled. He saw cities destroyed. He saw bodies twice buried, first by family, then by sheets of ice. Loki felt as though he was shape-shifting _from the inside._ The cold grew more and more pleasurable. The Relic filled a crater in his mind that Loki had never known existed. It seemed to whisper to him… _You are of Jotunheim. Evil is your legacy. Murder is your legacy_. _And your Destiny too… _Loki cried out. He was not of Asgard; he was the plague which had been set upon it long ago. He was a sullied god. He fed on chaos. Redemption was impossible. _I am not the son of Odin_, thought Loki. _I am not the brother of Thor_. _They are light and I am darkness. But when one looks up at the night sky, there is only a tiny dusting of light in the whole of the universe. It was a dark universe_. This made him laugh. It was a mad laugh, the laugh of a hundred bloodied Jotun Kings. Loki was simply the next one in a long line. The signs had been apparent all his life. He had been born in a moral vacuum and transplanted to a realm where he brought misery to everyone he loved… _Loved_.

'_Loved'._ The thought triggered something inside Loki. For a moment, he had forgotten the meaning, and then, all at once, the remembrance flooded him, infinitely more powerful than the Frost Relic. He remembered Erindis's face; her eyes, which were the colour of tea without milk, the expression she so often made, as though she wasn't sure if she was going to start crying or laugh out loud. He loved her. It didn't matter who he was, he could not help loving her. Loki shuddered violently as he took his hands out of the Frost Relic. He watched his flesh turn back to its normal colour. He gasped for air. The Frost Relic dimmed slightly.

Loki could not afford to linger here any longer. He reached into a pouch he had brought with him and pulled out the fake Frost Relic. He put the real one into his pouch and replaced it with the fake. No alarm sounded.

Loki made his way out of the dungeon, in a slight haze. He flew up the stairs and through the corridor toward his chamber. Fastbior was still lying in a crumpled clump against the wall, only now he had begun to snore.

"I cannot tell you how thrilled your new colleagues are that they are finally getting to work with you," Laufey told Erindis as he led her up the stairs of the highest tower in the Palace.

Erindis gulped. She imagined hundreds of Frost Giants all looking down at her with red, merciless eyes and demanding that she spill every secret of her craft. Her collar tightened around her throat. Erindis had not yet worked out exactly how she was going to elude the Frost Giant scientists, and now she was in a panic. How long before they, and Laufey, found out she was bullshitting? Had it been the secret plot of fate all along that she should die in Jotunheim? Through the window, she could see more of the landscape than from any other place in the palace, but there was new to see, just more whiteness, more glaciers, more confirmation of impossibility.

When they reached the door of the lab Laufey stopped. "I want you to know," he said, "that my people and I are very grateful for what you are doing."

Erindis nodded her head.

"You seem nervous," observed Laufey.

"I-I-I just hope I can be of some _real _use to the Kingdom..."

"_Dear Child,_" said Laufey, bending down in a fatherly way, "You are our angel, our Merlin, our gift from Valhalla… Your help is invaluable! Of course you shall be of '_real_' use to Jotunheim."

"B-but what if my skills are not as advanced as you all expect?" asked Erindis meekly.

"I saw what you were capable of in that healing chamber in Asgard," said Laufey with a twinkle, "And it looked like the benefit of _quite an education_."

Erindis could feel her knees shaking now. "That is different from potions and science," she said, "I often get ratios and equations mixed up… I was really a horrible student, King Lau-"

"Would Odin have recruited a 'horrible student' to be his spy?" For one terrifying moment, Erindis watched as a shadow of suspicion passed over Laufey's face. Erindis could practically feel a dagger of ice poised at her back.

"No, no, I meant- what I meant to say, is that my knowledge is _nothing _compared to Loki's."

"Don't ever say that." Loafey looked as though she had offended him personally. "Too long have you toiled in the shadow of that thankless monster," he breathed. "Look at you! He has completely eroded your confidence! You are like a frost peacock, hiding your plumage! Loki never believed in your gifts, he treated you like litter. He never dreamed that you might one day match him. How ignorant he was... In my Kingdom, the ignorant pay for their ignorance. _He shall see_! You will become _great_, Erindis, _great!_ Let Jotunheim be the nursery of your greatness." Erindis blinked. Laufey could be quite hypnotic when he wanted to be.

"Of course- I-I will try my best, Sir, always."

"I shall never expect anything less from you," said Laufey. He did not say, '_And_ _if I catch you trying to cross me, you will become intimately aquainted with the inner esophagous of the sixteen ton monster I keep underground, that nobody is allowed to acknowledge exists', _because he didn't need to.

Erindis was surprised to discover only three Frost Giants waiting for her in lab, Tigor and two colleagues.

"You remember Tigor," said Laufey. How could she forget the man who had outfitted her with the collar that rendered her incapable of sorcery? Tigor stared at her feet, which struck Erindis as a rather improbable thing for a Frost Giant to do, even if he was an unusually short one. "And this is Jord, and Gilgos." The two other Frost Giants nodded, they seemed neither friendly nor overtly unpleasant.

"Erindis was betrayed by man she loved. Now she is going to help Jotunheim become Asgard's equal in Science and Sorcery, _as is only just._" Laufey informed them all. Erindis was beginning to feel like she was on a never ending conveyor belt in a shame factory. Why did every Frost Giant in the realm have to know her history with Loki?

The Frost Giant named Jord arched his bald blue brow.

"Now, I know that, perhaps, you may have reservations about _trusting _a former enemy…Yes?" Tigor, Jord and Gilgos didn't dare say anything. "Allow me to assure you, Gentlemen, that your concerns are unfounded. Tigor has, of course, designed this handy collar which inhibits Erindis's magical abilities. This does not mean that I think our new friend would blast us all to smithereens and escape the second she had the chance…" Here, Laufey paused to let out a woefully phony laugh, as if the very utterly ridiculous. "Trust has to be _earned_, and Erindis is here to do just that! Only once she had proven her loyalty to Jotunheim, will she be relieved of her collar. Therefore, all of you shall remain _vigilant, _but you will also treat our new friend with courtesy and respect. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir" replied all three Frost Giants.

"Freedom will be so much sweeter, once you have earned it, My Dear," Laufey whispered to Erindis. Then he handed her a test tube as though it were a placatory bottle of wine, and bid them all farewell.

Once Laufey had gone, the three Frost Giants looked at Erindis in expectation, as if she were a Professor about to give a lecture. Erindis was at a loss for what to say. She wondered what the most innocuous thing would be to teach them. "Well, um, why don't we start with a nice, simple Niad Potion?"

The Frost Giant named Jord balked at her. "_A Niad Potion?_ You mean the liquid designed to clean up lakes and rivers?"

"Yes."

"In case you haven't noticed, _Sorceress, _there aren't a great many liquid bodies of water on Jotunheim! _And_, in case you _also _haven't noticed, Laufey wants us to work on science with a potential for _militaristic_ uses. How do you expect a Niad Potion to aid us in a war with Asgard? What are we going to do, kill them with _freshness_?"

Erindis's cheeks reddened. This wasn't going to be anywhere near easy. "Well," she said, "what do you want to work on then?"

"Wormholes, Atomic Blinding Spells, teleportation…" listed Jord.

"Sonic Bombs," added Gilgos.

"Basically, all the things that Laufey wants," explained Jord.

"Sulphur-Climide-Orellian potion," said Tigor.

The two other Giants looked down at Tigor with scorn. Jord laughed out loud. "Sulphur_-Climide-Orellian potion?_"

"Forgive our colleague," said Gilgos, "sometimes he fails to see the O so subtle difference between science and fairytales…"

"Everyone knows that no such potion exists," Jord told Tigor.

"Except in your imagination," added Gilgos.

"And in your publications," snickered Jord. The two taller Frost Giants smiled conspiratorially at one another. It was apparent to Erindis that this had always been the dynamic between the three of them.

Tigor's cheeks flushed purple. He looked at Erindis directly for the first time. His eyes were bright and pleading. '_Does it exist?'_ they seemed to be asking her. It was at that moment that Erindis realized how she was going to make her escape. _Tigor_, _my savior!_

"Of course it exists," said Erindis. All three of the Frost Giants, even Tigor, looked at her with shock. "Whatever gave you the idea that it was impossible?"

"No Jotun scientist has ever brewed a successful sample, even in the days when _everyone, _not just the _lunatics _were trying," said Gilgos.

"What can I say?" said Erindis a little smugly, "It is a tough one…"

Jord narrowed his eyes, "_You _have made this potion before?"

"How do you think Loki got here without the Bifrost?"

Jord looked at her resentfully. People did not like to have their ignorance pointed out to them.

"But how can it be possible?" questioned Gilgos.

"Just because something is beyond one's own understanding, does not mean it is impossible," said Erindis. She was enjoying being a little _mean. _

"C-can you teach us how to brew it?" asked Tigor. He seemed to be the only Frost Giant without an ego. He was the most curious and the most humble.

"I would be happy to."

Erindis doubted that not a single Jotun had ever been able to brew a successful batch of Sulper-Climide-Orellian Potion. It seemed far more likely that quite a few of them had succeeded, especially in the so called 'Golden Age of Jotun Enlightenment', but that they just hadn't known it. Even Tigor had been able to essentially improvise an almost perfect version in his book. No, the actual brewing of the potion was not the problem… What the Jotuns were unable to do, was properly _use _it. Erindis, who had trained for years in advanced chemical teleportation, knew that simply ingesting Sulpher-Climide-Orellian Potion was not enough. It required extreme skill and concentration to seep from one universe to another. Not even the most naturally gifted sorcerers could manage it without literally thousands of hours of practice first. Luckily, Erindis hadn't had much of an adolescence…

For the first time in ages, Erindis felt her spirits lift a little. What harm could there be in brewing a batch of Sulpher-Climide-Orellian Potion if _she _was the only one who would be able to use it? Of course, she would have to find some way to get rid of her collar first…

"We can start brewing once we have prepared all the ingredients," said Erindis brightly. Then she turned to Tigor. "I read some of your book on Potions last night. The Sulpher-Climide-Orellian, you nicknamed it, the 'Portal to Other Realms Potion'." The two other Frost Giants sniggered. Erindis looked at them sharply. "He got it nearly perfect, you know." Tigor's jaw hung so low, Erindis thought his mouth was surely getting drafty. "You did," she confirmed. "The only ingredient you missed was Joric stone."

Tigor's perpetually agonized face bloomed into a sudden smile. Erindis had never imagined a Jotun could look so goofy. "Joric Stone!" he cried, "Of course!"

"Joric stone is so easy to overlook because it is-"

"Odourless!" cried Tigor.

"Well then," said Erindis a little taken aback by all this Frost Giant enthusiasm, "shall we begin preparing the ingredients?"

As the hours past, working side by side in the lab with three gigantic blue malcontents, Erindis found herself feeling more and more sympathetic to her new 'colleagues'.

The Lab in the Palace of Jotunheim was considerably shabbier than even the one assigned to first year students at the Asgard Academy. It appeared that, Frost Giants, when frustrated, had a habit of smashing test tubes and other instruments, which they then attempted to glue back together with a highly adhesive substance mysteriously referred to as 'FGS' (which Erindis later learned, to her horror, stood for 'Frost Goat Saliva'). To be fair, it was Laufey who had done most of the smashing, to indicate that he was not pleased by how a particular project had stalled. "The King doesn't like to think he is using tax money to fund research that isn't immediately beneficial to the realm," said Gilgos. Erindis noticed that he had chosen his words carefully. He didn't say '_Money that could be spent mining the conquered moon colonies for uranium', _or '_money that could be spent hiring contract killers to terrorize Vanahaim' _or '_money that could be spent keeping Queen Halla in fine furs'. _But there was a tell tale bitterness in his voice.

Erindis was ashamed to realize that she had never fully appreciated the freedom she had enjoyed in Asgard. There, scientists could pursue knowledge for its own sake. She didn't have beaurocrats breathing down her neck all the time the way Tigor, Jord and Gilgos did. She didn't have to justify every experiment she did. And, most importantly, she did not have to work on projects that were designed to promote mass murder. They did. That was the one thing Erindis could not understand about Tigor, Jord and Gilgos, how could they do it? The more time she spent with them, the more she realized how similar they were to her; they were scientists and wannabe sorcerers, just as curious about and bewitched by the universe as she was. Her passions were their passions. Yet they could do things, like build bombs and try to create wormholes with which to invade other realms, that Erindis could never imagine doing. They did not strike her as being bad people, yet they were capable of doing whatever terrible thing Laufey asked of them. How could they? Did not they see that every new advancement in sorcery already reeked of blood? Did not they realize that they were acting not as soldiers of knowledge but as the servants of evil?

"I have always loved to study the laws of the world around me," said Jord, "the King is my benefactor, for he allows me to pursue my dream." Of all the Scientists, Jord appeared to be the most loyal to (or fearful of) Laufey. Erindis could tell that these were practiced words. They had been indoctrinated from a young age. The truth was a blind spot, a gaping hole to be stepped around.

"But don't you ever wonder about what you are being commissioned to do?" asked Erindis, as innocently as she could. The Joric Stone yielded like pudding beneath the flat end of her knife. She could feel the increasingly curious gaze of Tigor fix on her from across the room.

"No," answered Jord.

"So, your curiosity is _selective_ ?" asked Erindis.

"As far as it can be, yes. The King gives us specific assignments and as we work to accomplish them, we learn."

"So all your learning is incidental?"

Jord looked a little annoyed at this remark. "_No_. We are _still _scientists, Ms. Erindis. King Laufey has simply given us _a way to be scientists_. Not all Kings in our history have been so supportive. We are grateful to him."

Erindis noticed Tigor wince as he waited for his water to boil. He was listening to every word of her and Jord's conversation. Lonely people were life's eternal spectators, always watching, always listening… _Good._ She wanted him to hear everything. In fact, her words were more for Tigor's ears than Jord's. Erindis had been sizing him up all afternoon. She could tell he was more sympathetic to her than the others. He was more sensitive. She smelled doubt on him like a festering wound. She could use it. She could use him. Thinking like this made her feel ruthless, but it was a welcome change from feeling helpless.

Gilgos, who considered himself a bit of a philosopher as well as a scientist, decided to join the conversation. "All learning is incidental, Ms. Erindis. People act out of their desires and from that they learn. As a child, I reached for the tip of my father's cigar and burned my little finger. I learnt something. Today, we attempt to build a wormhole and we learn something."

"But what if your 'learning something' leads to the burning of cities and not little fingers?" questioned Erindis. She pitched her voice loud, so that Tigor could hear. "What if what you are ordered to do is morally reprehensible? What if Laufey wants you to build a device that you know will kill thousands?"

"We do not 'know' anything," said Jord, "He does not tell us what he wants to use it for."

"O, so you have a luxury of 'not knowing', or at least choosing not to know. I will never understand how men of science can so blindly follow orders."

Gilgos picked up a test tube full of sparkling green solution. "Fact: if I were not here mixing this pupa acid, somebody else would be doing it. So it is with everything. We know our place, we know that we are replaceable. Maybe that is the problem with Asgard, everyone there feels so damned special. You live under the collective delusion of individual importance."

"But you are the best scientists in the realm!" yelled Erindis, "How can you say you are 'replaceable'?"

"It isn't hard to be the best, considering the state of our realm," said Gilgos. Never had Erindis met men of their talents who were so self effacing.

"I still don't understand how people who claim to be in love with knowledge can be so wilfully ignorant," she said.

"We are only as wilfully ignorant as the girl who fell in love with the man who plotted the overthrow of his brother and then abandoned her to the enemies of the realm," pointed out Jord. "You too made a choice, Ms. Erindis, to turn off the dial in your mind marked, 'rational thought'."

Erindis's cheeks reddened. Morally bested by a Frost Giant. She looked down at her rubble of Joric stone. What did it matter to her what Jord or anyone else said? What did it matter what words were thrown at her? Her spirit was already as finely crushed as the powder beneath her fingers. But it did cause a pang of guilt to consider that it was her blind devotion of Loki that had made his entire scheme possible. She had been an accessory. Erindis knew she should have been angry at Loki, but she was instead furious at herself. She recalled a rather vulgar but apt term a friend of hers at the Academy had once used, 'dickmatized'. "Indeed," she said.

_Why torment her? _Tigor wondered. Jord's remark had been entirely unnecessary. So the girl had poor taste in men, certainly nobody in _this_ lab could cast judgement on _that _without being a total hypocrite. Jord himself had married a woman who thought an 'antidote' was a funny story told to friends, and introduced him at parties as her husband, the 'Astro-lyricist'. She spent her days languishing in the bed of one of Laufey's top aides, as was apparent to everyone at court but Jord. _Well, _thought Tigor, cattily,_ if it isn't the cuckolded pot, calling the kettle stupid_.Gilgos was on his eighth marriage, _of this century_, to woman who believed bathing in iodine was the only remedy for wrinkles. Tigor's own situation was no less anguished. He loved his wife dearly, but knew she had no such feelings for him. If he had ever had her love, he had lost it long ago. He had failed too many times. He was too poor, too ridiculous, too much of an embarrassment to be attached to. Tigor's reverie was interrupted by the dinner bell. Laufey was hungry, so it was time to eat. In Jotunheim, where there was no sunlight, a 'day' was a kind of improvisation centred around on the whims of Laufey. Meals could happen within days or minutes of each other. Tigor knew it was just another way for Laufey to demonstrate his power over everyone else, to remind them all that they were nothing more than specks in his orbit. It embarrassed him to hear Erindis point out the flaws of the system, because it was only too true.

The throne room that evening, was peopled than yesterday, and the table seemed longer. There were more candles, and more glitter. It was as if Laufey was trying to recapture an atmosphere of the happier age, which had ended years ago, the week Laufey's first wife, Inge, had given birth to an heir and died shortly after. The events of her death, the birth of Laufey's unseen son and the Asgardian sack of Jotunheim seemed intertwined somehow. It was as if the birth of the boy had set about a catastrophic chain of events. Nothing was ever the same. Only the arrival of Erindis seemed to give the King a diabolical new hope. Tigor knew that Laufey expected nothing less than eventual domination of the universe. A star had fallen into his lap in the shape of Erindis. She was to be the avenging angel of Jotunheim. So why did Tigor have the nagging feeling that nothing was going to go according to plan?

The scientists were invited to join Laufey at the head of the table. Queen Halla and her rival, Sturla were relegated to the sidelines, much to their mutual fury. "What triumphant forays into sorcery have our four scions made today?" asked Laufey. '_Four scions'?_ Tigor wanted to crawl out of his skin. Luckily he didn't have to open his mouth, Erindis regaled the King about their progress with the Sulphur-Climide-Orellian Potion.

As she spoke, Erindis could feel the enraptured hush around the table. They were impressed, _all _of them. Even Queen Halla, who seemed to spend her entire life looking haughty, bored or indignant, leaned into the conversation with her hand under her chin and her red eyes glittering with imagined possibilities (_A statue in her honour next to St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, Midguard._ _Vacations in Vanaheim. A trove of imported jewels, richer than anything owned by that old harpy, Frigga… _All of these things would be made possible by transdimensional travel_. Who knew science could be so interesting?_).

But nobody took more pleasure in listening to Erindis than Laufey. When she was finished he just stared at her, with pleasure and pride, with reverence even. "You came to us with nothing," he said. "You were broken, tossed asunder by the man you loved. And look at you now, you are the paragon of a new age!"

Erindis could have laughed out loud. She had not 'come' to Jotunheim, but was brought here against her will. And what sort of 'paragon of a new age' wore a collar around her neck that inhibited her powers? Her face must have momentarily betrayed her thoughts for Laufey looked at her and leaned in to whisper, "Soon, My Dear, soon. And when you do have your freedom back, it will be _more _than freedom." His eyes did that terrible trance inducing thing they did. He was Loki's father all right.

"What is _more _than freedom?" asked Erindis.

"Power."

"I have never wanted it. I don't want it now."

Laufey laughed gently. "You think you have never sought power, Erindis? Did you not spent thousands of hours of your life pouring over books and manuals, hunched over microscopes, _practising, practicing, practising,_ while your friends were outside sucking eachother's faces off? While they got on with the business of 'fun', were you not alone, training your mind and your body to become the perfect receptacle for magic?"

Erindis didn't say anything.

"I thought so," said said Laufey. "Don't you see, Erindis, sorcery itself is a quest for power, power in its rawest form. Do not run from it Erindis. Love your craft for what it is"

Erindis shivered as she remembered what Loki had once told her about loving her craft for what it really was. Laufey's words had been almost the same, verbatim.

"You are powerful Erindis. And you will fall in love with your power. Would not the Kings of yore have slaughtered their own legions to have what you have?"

Erindis raised an eyebrow, "Yes," she said, "and the Kings of today would as well, probably."

Laufey smiled. "Yes, yes they would. Even Kings of today. For what more is a King, then an accident of blood?"

"I agree, King Laufey."

"You are smarter than you act."

"That is no compliment, Sir."

"No?"

"Actions are important. One is not rewarded for good intentions, nor should one be commended for the prudent advice in one's head one does not follow."

"Very true," said Laufey. "And by that token, Loki must be condemned for his actions."

"Perhaps he suffers more than you imagine, Sir."

Laufey scoffed. "Why? Why does _he_ suffer? He has been given everything: a loving father, a Royal title, and everything that entails, a gift for sorcery that is unmatched by any in his realm, _and, _as your current predicament suggests, a _certain prowess with women._"

Erindis smiled bitterly. "On paper it all looks very fine, Sir."

Laufey laughed again, "_On paper? _That arrogant vermin is hailed as a god! Yet he desires more. That is the evil of this world, Erindis, even the luckiest among men always desires more. Men like Loki, the fatter they become, the larger their appetite."

Sturla, the King's steadfast mistress suddenly burst out into a fit of laughter. Everyone glared at her and a few of her friends giggled along with her, out of solidarity.

Laufey looked at his lover with naked disdain then turned to Erindis. "My apologies. There are certain ladies in this court, _and I use that term loosely_, who are always laughing. They are usually the ones without a sense of humour." He turned back to Sturla, "They laugh all the time, you see, because they are not quite sure when they are supposed to."

God, Laufey could be cruel. Not just run of the mill, murder and tyranny cruel; but subtley, domestically cruel. Was this how Laufey had treated Loki's mother, _before he had her killed_?

_Inge_. The thought of that woman, who was said to have been so beautiful and played the Glacie-Carmen and made all the courtiers weep, haunted Erindis. How could she not be fascinated by the woman who was Loki's mother? Inge was the last missing piece of him. Loki could not be all malice the way his father was. He had to have some goodness in him. Erindis knew it, she sensed it. Surely his mother had been good. But she had given Laufey a 'defective' son and for that, he had her slaughtered like an animal!

"You seem quite comfortable here, yourself Sir," said Erindis, hoping to steer the attention away from a humiliated Sturla. "You have a _beautiful _palace, with lot's of… great ice in it. Appearances suggest that you have everything too."

"I had everything, and I was robbed of it." There was passion behind Laufey's voice now, something not quite controlled.

"Who robbed you?"

Laufey's brow darkened. "Odin. Odin took everything that was mine."

_Liar. _"Did Odin take just your son or did he take your wife as well?" The second that sentence escaped her mouth, Erindis was seized with shock and regret. How could she have said that, _out loud_? Was she looking to get her throat slit, just as her escape plan was beginning to gain some tract?

Laufey glared at her. There was so much feeling swimming in his eyes that it surprised Erindis. "Dinner is over," he said, without bothering to look at the rest of the diners. Everybody hurried out of the room. Erindis got up to leave but Laufey's hand encircled her wrist. "You, sit," he ordered. He let go of her wrist leaving a thick bracelet of frost behind. For a long time he said nothing, just glared at her. When he finally began to speak, his voice was almost demonically gentle. "It does not surprise me that you know," he said. "Of course a man like Odin would feel the need to confess his sins to an innocent young woman. You listened to his confession, didn't you? You were so understanding, so tolerant of his crime. You made a sympathetic face. You told the AllFather that it wasn't his fault. It made him feel better. As if, perhaps, what he had done was _not so very bad after all_. You were glad you could help. But the thing is, Erindis, Odin never needed you, or anybody else for that matter, to be able live with what he had done." Laufey's glare peeled back layers of will and confidence Erindis didn't even know she had. "Do you understand that?" he asked. Erindis didn't answer. She knew she did not dare defend Odin's actions, and she wasn't sure that she could, or even wanted to. "Now," said Laufey in a voice that was as breakable as any she had heard, "I am going to ask you a question, and I am only going to ask it once. I want you to answer me honestly. Can you do that?"

Erindis nodded.

"Do you know where my son is?"

Erindis felt something sharp and rattling in her chest. She looked into Laufey's face. He was so vile, so morally bankrupt, yet he was also a father, who had suffered, and who, quite clearly, suffered still. "No."

Laufey took half a moment to take the answer in, and reconcile himself with it. "Thank you," he said, though Erindis did not know why.

"May I go now?" she asked meekly.

"Not yet," he said. He raised his hand and Erindis flinched. Laufey smiled. He was only reaching for his goblet of Jotun Ice Ale. "You needn't flinch," he said, in a voice so silky it reminded her of Loki's. "When I want to hurt you, _you will know_. It will be the suspense, and not the pain that will torture you the most." Erindis gulped. "You know, there is an ancient Jotun saying, '_One who has something to fear, is one who has something to hide.' _Isn't that insightful?" Laufey grinned again. "I wasn't surprised that you know about my first wife either. Who can blame the guards for talking? She was impossible to forget. Inge was so beautiful it was cruel." Laufey seemed to be lost in some spell. Something about his expression told Erindis that his head was full of perfume and Glacie-Carmen music. He smiled sadly, then, looked directly at Erindis. "They say evil men cannot love. This is not the case." He laughed. "How much less complicated the world might be if love were solely the domain of the good..."

"Did you love your first wife, then?"

"It is strange, you know, to think of her as my 'first wife'. To say that I have been married '_before' _and am now '_married again'_. It doesn't quite seem to describe the truth... That woman who lies in my bed, that _shadow_ who calls herself Queen, she is nothing to me… My true wife has been buried for centuries and yet Halla still cannot compete with her. Unfair isn't it?"

"All is fair in love' is that not the platitude you used yesterday, King Laufey?" Erindis's heart was beating. She wondered how much longer the King of Jotunheim would tolerate her boldness.

Laufey didn't seem angry, but rather smiled. "You remember everything," he observed, "If you and I were enemies, this would make you dangerous."

Erindis wondered if dared ask. "What happened to your wife?"

Laufey blinked. "What happened to her? What eventually happens to all of us, that is what happened to her."

"But, _how_ did she die?"

"Alone," said Laufey, his eyes grew frighteningly vacant.

"But _why _did she die?"

"Why do you ask?" said Laufey with a mad smile. "You already think I killed her."

Erindis swallowed hard. "Did you?"

"It disturbs you to think that I might have," he observed, "Why?"

Erindis said nothing.

"It is not _I, _but the universe that is cruel. Fate plays with all men, Erindis, even Kings, as if we were little dolls fashioned out of matchsticks. You asked me if I loved Inge. The answer is yes." Laufey's eyes closed at the remembrance. "Yes. Yes. I had a great love. It was so great that it burned my insides away until I was nothing more than a hollow vessel, filled with love of her. She was a _goddess… _And, you know, Erindis a mortal who makes love to a god is doomed." Here Laufey smiled, "I don't have to tell _you_ that."

Erindis glared at him. Every time Loki was alluded to, it was a needle in her heart.

"You must not think that I am mocking you," said Laufey. "My capacity for love is no smaller than yours. The only difference is that, unlike you, I never let it dictate my actions. I never let love stop me from doing what _I had to do._ Now I love only my Kingdom. Not individual people, mind you, but the whole: _my Kingdom_. I love it with more fercocity than I could ever another person. To defend it, I would do anything, I would destroy anyone. If I ever suspected someone to be a traitor," here he glared implicitly at Erindis, "I would not hesitate to have them subjected to a death so cruel that it is beyond the scope of your imagination. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly." Erindis willed her knees to stop trembling.

"Good," said Laufey sinking backward into his chair. "You know, I have grown to love our little talks…"

Back in his quarters, Loki drank a full glass of Sulpher-Orellian-Potion. He had never been so nervous to teleport in his life. Hopping over light years and universes, it had been no different to him from hopping over a pond in the garden. But now it was different. One of Loki's favourite Midguaridan authors, Marcel Proust, once wrote: '_Love is time and space made perceptible to the human heart.' _For the first time, Loki understood the meaning of that sentence. Loki surrendered his mind to deep concentration. He felt his bones lengthen, his disciplined muscles bend, his skin become porous. He leaned forward, took a deep breath and flung himself froward. _WHOOSH! _ As if for the first time, Loki perceived space, stretched and extended before him. The numbering light years, the endless horizon, the billions of stars were suddenly overwhelming. He could feel the yawning, distance between himself and Erindis. Outside of her love, reality had no existence. There was no Asgard, no Jotunheim, no Bifrost. There were no stars and no planets. No clouds of red gasses gliding across space. No time. No matter. And no emptiness either.

It took an eternity, and a moment to get to get to Jotunheim. Loki shivered against the wind a few yards from the palace. Loki knew that he may very well be walking into a trap. He had arrived a day earlier then scheduled. He could afford to examine Erindis's situation himself, to make sure she was safe. To do this, Loki would have to shapeshift into the creature he dreaded the most; the creature he secretly was.

_POP!_

Loki, the Frost Giant, twice his original height, with skin the colour of tranquil seas, made his way toward the Palace of his birth. Had his Laufey known that he would one day be able to change his appearance at will, perhaps he would not have abandoned him in the temple as a baby, and today he would have had a son taller then him.


	20. Chapter 20

**Here is the new chapter, I hope the fact that it is jam packed with new stuff makes up a little for the longer wait **** As always, thank you for your enduring support and readership, it makes my life yunno! Much love. Hope you enjoy. **

**I do not own any of the marvel characters.**

Chapter 20: Midnight

Erindis did not know what made her jolt that evening in the Lab. She had been separating the branches of a thorny kapis bush, when, suddenly, _it hit her_. It was excitement. It was a hurricane in her chest. Her heart galloped like a bay mare and she felt goosebumps all over. Something was coming, something good. For the first time in a long time, Erindis felt hope, a dangerous kind of hope; the spectral shadow of salvation looming over her. _I must finally be going mad,_ she thought to herself. She tried to bury the feeling. She tried to keep her fingers from trembling, but they would not stop, even when the thorns cut her skin. She knew that she needed to concentrate now, if she wanted to leave Jotunheim alive. There would be plenty of time to indulge in the depths of her newfound madness once she was back in Asgard. But madness refused to cooperate. For madness, like love, was not open to negotiation.

She could not have known, of course, that reason for this feeling was that, at that precise moment, Loki had materialized somewhere on the Jotun horizon, in his Frost Giant form.

"Is the Pupa solution supposed to turn purple?" asked Jord.

Erindis examined the beaker full of bubbling liquid. "It's fine. You can add the sprig of Bantomile now- but not too much." Erindis had become quite adept at giving orders to Frost Giants, and, to her surprise, she found she even enjoyed it a little. Erindis reckoned that this was just another symptom of her steadily blackening heart.

Another was that she was beginning to wonder whether one of the great joys of knowledge was precisely the fact that others _lacked_ it. _Knowing_ set one apart, made one powerful. Up until now, Erindis had not been willing to see a symbiosis between intelligence and domination. She had been wilfully naïve. Not anymore.

Erindis observed that Jotuns feared Laufey, but that they loved him too. Was it because most people secretly liked to be in the power of others? Certainly, there was a perverse pleasure in submission, in closing one's eyes, in surrendering… And Erindis knew that it was not an exclusively Jotun characteristic. For what was Odin if not a benevolent dictator? Asgardians called him 'AllFather'. Did Odin's wisdom alone warrant his having dominion over _the entire universe_? Erindis did not know. All she knew was that the universe was lucky Odin was a _good _man.

But somehow, even that, seemed too easy a statement to make. For what exactly was a _good man_? The distinction between right and wrong had never before been so covered in fog. Perhaps this was because Erindis herself was preparing to do something very _wrong._ In this, she had no choice, the Sulpher-Climide-Orellian potion would finish amalgamating by the evening, at which point it would become apparent that it didn't work on Frost Giants.

There was a knock on the door of the Lab.

"Come in!" said Gilgos. He was undeniably the housewife of their quartet.

He man who entered the room was Erindis's old prison guard. "Greetings from King Laufey!" he said, with forced enthusiasm. "I am bid to inform you of the King's intention to throw a party tonight."

"_A party?_" exclaimed Jord and Gilgos, in unison.

"He wishes to mark the occasion of the completion of young Erindis's Sulpher-Climate- have I got it right? Orvil Potion?"

"You're close," said Erindis. "When is this party?"

"In four hours."

"Four hours!" cried Jord. "Tigor, does that give you enough time to put on your face?" He and Gilgod snickered.

"You are the Guest of honour, Ms. Erindis," the guard informed her. "The King has ordered that I tell you to look extra, non-dishevelled for the occasion."

_You mean 'Prisoner of Honour',_ thought Erindis."Thank you," she said, "We shall be there. I'll even run a comb through my hair."

The guard looked at her oddly, as if he didn't understand any part of her statement. "_Of course _you shall be there, since Laufey has ordered it." With that, the guard made his exit.

_Great. _Just another reason Erindis had to make her move _now_.

Erindis waited for an opportune moment for the next hour. She finally sidled up to Tigor as he was cutting some Trior stems. "Tigor, will you help me pick some more herbs from the greenhouse?"

Tigor seemed alarmed. "Certainly, Ms. Erindis."

Yes, improbable as it was, the Frost Giants had a greenhouse. It was nothing more than a small room, adjacent to the lab, where various plants were grown for potions. The temperature was obscene for Frost Giants. Understandably, it was the every one's least favourite job to look after it. An Asgardian would no sooner wish to work in a freezer. Needless to say, it was inevitably Tigor who ended up on 'hotbox duty'. He never complained. He knew better than to complain, lest he become the brunt of some new insult ("Haven't you heard Tigor? Heat makes objects _expand_.").

Tigor held the door open for Erindis. How polite he was! Erindis knew that it took conquering of a profound shyness for him to be so polite. In Tigor, Erindis saw a lot of herself. She saw timidity in battle with adventurousness. She saw intelligence in battle against crippling uncertainty. She saw revulsion for injustice, and a creeping sense of powerlessness. She sensed Tigor was like her spiritual twin. Now, amidst the wafting heat of the greenhouse, Erindis knew that it was time to prey upon his better qualities.

"Which herbs did you need help picking, Ms Erindis?"

"O," said Erindis, a little taken aback by the earnestness of his expression and the profusion of sweat which had attacked his brow the minute he set foot in the greenhouse. A Frost giant sweating looked a like a Frost Giant melting. "Um… Humket. We are low on Humket."

With that, Tigor bent down and applied his began ripping the plants from their stubborn, ropelike roots. He was not particularly strong and so could not help straining and grunting, which, Erindis could tell, embarrassed him considerably.

"Thank you for helping me," she said. Tigor fell backwards with a handful of Humket. He looked heartrendingly grateful. How long had it been since the last time anyone had _thanked _Tigor for anything?

"It's nothing at all," he mumbled, then dove in to pull more.

"You are very good in the lab," said Erindis, "You have an instinct for potions that even the most accomplished scholors lack. You're _special, _Tigor_, _I don't know what I'd do without you…"

Tigor didn't know what to say. '_Nonsense_' would have seemed ungrateful and dismissive. '_Thank you_' would have seemed like he agreed with her that he was special. "Um, I, I don't… I don't. Ms. Erindis."

"You don't what?" asked Erindis.

"I mean, I, well, ah, thank you, um, _for thinking that_."

"God, you're worse than I am," said Erindis. Then she joined him in digging out the plants. They worked in silence for a few minutes. She noticed how carefully Tigor examined the roots once he had plucked them. Nature gave him pleasure. Nurture gave him pleasure; for Erindis knew, Tigor had planted these herbs himself. The roots were bright pink and spectacularly healthy. Humket was a notoriously temperamental plant. Tigor had to have taken amazing care of them. "Do you have any children?" she asked him.

It was a question that never failed to shrink the flesh over Tigor's heart. No, he did not have children. There was a time when he and his wife had tried; when the thought of having his child growing inside her had filled her with something other than repugnance. Now, she recoiled from Tigor whenever he touched her. She said she did not want to have a child by a man who was "not a man". She did not want to bring another "useless, simpering dwarf" into this world. What need had Jotunheim of another "self professed _scientist_ who spends all day concocting new _piss potions_"? He couldn't even afford to give her their own house. It would have been too humiliating to bear Tigor's child. She had too much respect for herself to mix genes with _him_. They only stayed married because King Laufey did not like the idea of 'marriages dissolving'. (He was really more of an 'adultery beheadings' kind of guy.) "No," said Tigor, "I do not have children."

"I only ask because you are so nurturing with these plants. I've never seen a healthier stock."

"Thank you." This compliment, he could accept.

Tigor smiled sadly at Erindis. It was a smile that told a story, a story that made her bold. "You are different from the others," she said.

Tigor blinked. "In what way?"

"In every way."

Tigor blushed the colour of eggplant. "I don't know what you mean…"

"Yes you do," she said. "You are the only one here who has not been anesthesized by Laufey's propaganda. You are the only one who can help me."

Tigor's heart pounded. This Girl was beckoning him into the most dangerous conversation he would ever have in his life. It was an invitation to transgress. Her eyes were at once plaintive and all-powerful. They seemed to say, _Go ahead, slander your soul by denying I am right. I dare you. _

"It- it is difficult to talk of such th-things," he sputtered.

"Tigor," said Erindis, "You must realize what Laufey would do with the power of sorcery if he had it."

Tigor was silent.

"I will never help him," said Erindis. "I do not want blood on my hands, and I don't think you do either."

Blood on his hands? How little she knew… Crimson rivers already gushed from from those hands… "If King Laufey knew you were-"

"I know," said Erindis, "But I have no choice. I can either die here or go home. I want to go home Tigor. Please listen to me. The Sulpher-Climide-Orellian potion, it won't work on anyone but me. It takes years of training to learn how to teleport. I can use it to escape, but I cannot do it while this collar is working."

Tigor looked at Erindis. She was so young, so frightened, so_ frightening._ Jotunheim was no place for her. "I know the Sulpher-Climide Orellian potion won't work on anyone else," he said softly.

Erindis's eyes widened. "You do?"

"Yes. I may have overlooked the Joric Stone… but I am not a complete ignoramous!

Scientists much more skilled than I, have been trying to brew that potion for centuries. It stands to reason that the problem is not one of brewing."

Erindis smiled faintly. _Of course he had known_. But why had he not called her out on it? "Why didn't you tell the others?" she asked.

Tigor looked as though it pained him to give her an answer. "You are just a Scientist," he said. "None of this was your fault."

Erindis felt as though she might burst into tears. She could not have imagined it might mean to her, to hear another person say that it wasn't her fault. "You-you knew all along that I wasn't going to cooperate… How?"

"I sensed goodness in you Ms. Erindis, the same way you sensed a reluctance to do bad in me". But, as Tigor knew all too well, 'goodness' and a 'reluctance to do bad' were two different things.

"I just want to go home," Erindis whispered, on the edge of tears. "I want to go home. You are the only one who can help me, Tigor. Please."

Home: an enigmatic concept. Tigor had a 'home' but it was only the place where he slept. This young Girl had a real home. She had a family that loved and missed her. She had a life and an identity. She would have a lot to lose in dying. Unlike him. What was it Tigor had to lose? What was it that could arguably prevent him from helping her? Was death even a threat to him now? What, would his wife weep over his bones? Would his mother hold a sumptuous funeral for the son who had brought her nothing but grief and disgrace? If anything, their lives would be _lightened_ by his death. They might think of him forgivingly, even fondly, when he became only a memory. It was the day to dayness, the flesh and blood of him that they could not stand. Tigor's wife would be free to marry somebody more _appropriate_. Liberating her would be the final redeeming act of his existence. The more he thought about it, the more Tigor realized how absurd fearing for _his own life_ really was. "I will help you, Ms. Erindis."

"Y-you will?" breathed Erindis.

"What Laufey has done to you, what _I _have helped him do, is cruel.. I hope you will forgive me for my part in keeping you here."

Erindis was overwhelmed, but she knew they couldn't have much more time in the greenhouse without Jord and Gilgos getting suspicious. "The Sulpher-Climide-Orellian potion will finish brewing soon. I shall sneak some out and drink it but I need you to deactivate my collar. I can't teleport with it on. Can you deactivate it, at a specific time, say, midnight?"

"The collar is controlled by a device located in Laufey's private chambers. I know the security codes, I designed the system myself. I can get to it during the party. Nobody will notice that I am gone."

Erindis's eyes widened. "I can't let you do that," she said. "Laufey will know it was you. He'll kill you."

"He won't know," said Tigor, rather unconvincingly, "I'll make it look like you did it."

"It's too big of a risk," insisted Erindis, "I can't let you do that Tigor." Erindis trembled. It had come as a shock to her, how badly she wanted to live. All this time, she had known that she would be asking Tigor to risk his life for her. The very idea seemed diabolical, unforgivable. And yet, she did it anyway. Only now did the fact of it sink in. She wanted to take it all back. She wanted to unsay everything. She did not want _this stranger _to throw himself into the fire for her.

"Please let me help you, Ms. Erindis," said Tigor. For the first time since Erindis had seen him, he looked totally serene. There were no more nerves, no more jitters.

"I will not let you die to save me."

"I told you, Ms. Erindis, I will not die." Tigor told himself that he was not lying. He _would_ try his bestnot to die. The funny thing was, the more this innocent young woman pleaded with him not to put himself in peril, the more he desired to to save her.

"I won't let you do it!" hissed Erindis. _Fuck the plan_! She wasn't Loki. She couldn't use him like this.

"Listen to me!" shouted Tigor. It did not sound like his voice at all. His eyes were like like mottled rubies. "I am not an innocent man, Ms. Erindis. I have _done things_… I have participated in things…" He swallowed hard and took a deep breath before continuing, "I only ever wanted to be a Scientist. But here, there is a price to pay for that. Twenty years ago, I helped build a bomb that killed eighty people in Vanaheim." He paused, arrested by the memory, and perhaps waiting for Erindis to voice her horror. When she did not, he continued. "I did not know what it was for. I mean, I told myself that I didn't. I suppose I did and didn't know at the same time. D-do you understand?" Tigor did not look up from the dirt on the ground. His hands trembled. "T-t-to think that all those people just… _stopped… _They were alive, and then they _stopped._ _Because of me…_ I tried to tell myself, I was doing good. that things would only get better in Joutnheim if people _knew _more. I told myself I was playing a part in that… You see now, Ms. Erindis, that helping you would not be an entirely _selfless_ act, if you get my meaning."

"Promise me that you will be careful," she whispered, "Promise me that you will make it look like _I_ was the one in Laufey's room. Take a few strands of my hair, litter them on the ground. Make the chambers look messy, as if I didn't know where the device was and had been searching for it…"

"Believe me, Ms. Erindis, I am quite proficient at making messes."

"So am I, Tigor."

From his chambers in the North tower, Laufey looked out over the grey expanse of the Jotun landscape. The wind rattled the window. In the distance, he could see a few carriages, clunking their way toward the Palace. How puny they looked against the wilderness, like a drops of ink on a rolling white parchment. Inside them were guests, men and women expecting to be wined and entertained. They acted as though if they belonged to some great empire and not a cluster of stones in the middle of a barren wasteland. A good king should love his subjects, some argued. What nonsense this was… Laufey disliked the lot of them. They may have been Giants, but they were small in every other sense of the world. Jotunheim was in the twilight of its most pathetic age.

Laufey knew that only Kings had faces in history; that is, if they earned it. And he would, even if it killed him. His legacy would not die with him. He would only be the beginning…

Loki would coming in just a few hours, with the Frost Relic in hand. Laufey was going to have the one thing back that was most precious to him in the entire universe. With it, Jotunheim would become an empire once more.

Soon, Laufey would be free to dispose of that lying Asgardian witch… 

Yes, his last conversation with Erindis had confirmed something Laufey had long suspected. She betrayed much with her eyes when she was afraid. It was a shame he could not have beaten the loyalty out her. There was something singularly irritating about being lied to one's face. He had very much wanted to grab her and stuff her mouth and eyes with icicles. Who did she think she was outsmarting? Well, the little Sorceress was in for a shock tonight…

Loki, inside the Palace of Jotunheim, was technically, home. He grazed his fingers along the black ice of the wall. Not only did it not melt beneath his touch, but it seemed to be reinforced by it. The tiniest surge of frost leapt from the blue tip of his fingers. He could hear the echo of the frenzied servants upstairs. Evidently, Laufey was having a party. _Even in the armpit of the universe there are parties…_

He needed to find Erindis. She was most likely in the dungeons; chained up in the smallest room, with only fear for company… He walked toward the end of the corridor until he spotted two Frost Giants walking toward him. Quickly, Loki ducked behind a sculpture of an armoured Warrior. The two Frost Giants didn't see Loki, for they were lost in a conversation.

"Well of course the young Asgardian girl will be there tonight! How could she miss it?" Loki heard one of the Frost Giants say.

"Woe to her if that potion turns out wrong…" said the other Frost Giant.

"Woe to _us all_ if she gets that potion wrong!"

"They say she is clever though…"

"O, shag a Royal these days and everyone says you're clever! I'll believe it when I see proof of this cleverness for myself!"

A wave of relief flooded Loki. Erindis was alive. But what was she going to be doing at this party full of Frost Giants? Loki's stomach twisted. He followed the Frost Giants to the ballroom. He looked down to make sure he was properly attired for such an occasion. His torso was blue and bare, as was the Jotun fashion; and he had a white, ermine lined cape. If one must crash a party, one may as well do it in style.

It was in the foyer in front of the Ballroom, with various Frost Giants attendants and dignitaries milling about, that Loki caught his first glimpse of himself as Frost Giant in a mirror. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight. It was like staring into his own death mask, or looking down at a gaping wound in his abdomen and feeling utterly detatched from it. His eyes were the deepest red; the red of soil mingled with blood. Like a child mired the spectacle of a dead insect, Loki could to peel his himself away from the terrible sight. _My true face, _he thought. He felt as though he was being covered by a slow, spreading stain. All his life, Loki's physical beauty had concealed the true catastrophe of his nature. Now, at last, his appearance was in line with his _badness_.

"Well, well, somebody is rather in love with his own reflection."

Loki turned and was somewhat startled to see Jord, the Frost Giant scientist who had assisted him in the creation of the temporary wormhole. Thankfully, Jord did not appear to recognize him. "Good Evening," said Loki coolly, "I am Chairman Balthazar, from the colony on Remus7. And you are?" Loki gave Jord a deadly once over.

Jord looked alarmed, "I beg you pardon Chairman. I am Jord of the Jotun Council of Science, very pleased to make your aquaintence."

_Jotun Council of Science? _"I was not aware that King Laufey had sanctioned the organization of such a Council…"

Jord beamed, he was obviously pleased with his new status. "O, he has _more _than sanctioned it. It is only a recent development, but _we have many plans_."

"Indeed?"

"O yes. The King himself is heavily involved in our efforts, as is Erindis_._" Jord gave Loki a knowing look.

"_Erindis?_ Loki felt his insides churn.

"Yes, the young Sorceress from Asgard. I and two of my colleagues work closely with her. I must admit, at first, I was sceptical. How can one trust an enemy, you know? But she has proven to be beyond helpful."

"Laufey did not harm her?"

"Heavens no! Why would he harm such a valuable commodity? On the contrary, he has given her a suite in the palace. He treats her like royalty!"

Loki cocked an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

"O yes, the King has high hopes for Erindis, especially now that she is cooperating."

"She is cooperating?"

Jord laughed heartily, "My, my I did not realize how _remote _Remus 7 was… Ms. Erindis is all anybody can seem to talk about here. I have never seen the King hold _anyone _to such high esteem. I hardly think he could be more attentive to her if she were his own daughter. It is only natural that she should choose to defect to Jotunheim, especially when you consider what happened between her and that Asgardian scum, Loki."

Loki's eyes widened, "Loki?"

"O yes, he used her infamously! They were lovers, you know. The poor girl was nearly dying of grief when she arrived! Laufey took her under his wing, _Great Man _that he is. He really took care of her. One could say, he gave her a purpose. Soon she was swearing revenge on Loki!"

"She was?"

"O yes, with absolute brimstone in her eyes. I wasn't there, personally, but they say it was quite a thing to be seen… She was drunk as a boiled owl, apparently! Well, it doesn't surprise me, that Devil did break her heart." Jord sighed, "Some people are so blind when they are in love…" At that moment, a woman with earrings the size of ostrich eggs caught Jord's attention, she was hanging off the arm of a pompous looking Frost Giant. "Ah, there goes my wife. She is always with _that_ man. I can never understand why… People will think they are cousins…" With that, Jord strolled over to his wife, who was engaged in conversation with the man who was quite clearly her lover.

Loki tried to make sense of what he had heard. Erindis working with the Frost Giants? _Impossible. _There had to be another explanation. Loki was determined to find out what it was. With the Frost Relic tucked into the pouch hanging on the side of his trousers, Loki entered the Ballroom.

Erindis had dressed herself in a white sliver of a gown. She was beginning to get used to the cold of Jotunheim, and no longer shivered as the air circled her bare shoulders. She had snuck a vial of the fresh Sulpher-Climide-Orellian potion out of the lab and drunk it all before the guard came to escort her to the party. Now all she could do was attend, ans wait for midnight, at which point she would spirit herself away. That is, if Tigor was successful. She did not dare imagine what would happen if he failed. Erindis knew that no matter what happened, she would never forgive herself for allowing Tigor to put his life in danger. Walking throught the corridor, Erindis was afraid she might be sick all over the guard's back. _Just a couple of hours more_, she told herself, _and this charade will be over. _

Erindis was not wholly prepared for the sight of the Jotun Ballroom that night. The delapidated room she had witnessed only a few days ago was now transformed into a darkly sumptuous Hall, with walls that shone like opal and enormous, diamantine sculptures in ever corner. Everything was built to a nightmarish scale. In fact the whole room had impact of a fever dream. The strangest music she had ever heard was playing. It sounded like an orchestra composed entirely of glass violins. It was a sound at once familiar and totally alien. It was the sound of the Glacie Carmen.

"At last, our Guest of Honor graces us!" cried Laufey, rising from his black, billowing throne at the centre of the room. He was sitting around a round table with his attendants all around. He gave Erindis an admiring top to bottom glance. "You look magnificent, my Dear, the cold air agrees with you."

"It is the potion making that agrees with me, Sir."

Laufey smiled. "Of course it does. How wonderful that an activity which gives you so much pleasure, can benefit thousands of Jotuns." Laufey led her to a tall, mother of pearl chair next to his throne. Around then sat a few attendants gathered around a round glass table. Erindis stared at the dancing couples on the floor. Some held each other close, and some held each other tenuously; they were no different from Asgardians.

Meanwhile, skulking like a bipedal eel at the back of the room, Loki kept an eye out for Erindis. There were too many Frost Giants in his way. It was only when the music ended and the dancing couples scattered to the sides of the room that Loki got a view of the centre of the room. There, seated between two Monarchs was a dim, white, almost spectral figure. The universe stilled around her. That precious face, those limbs, the quintessence of light that reigned in her eyes… She looked so fragile, and yet in a strange way, omnipotent. _Erindis._ It took all the self control he could muster to stop himself from running to her, from kissing every inch of her, from burying his face in her lap and letting his practiced façade fall away. He wanted to permeate her skin. He wanted to lose himself in the twisting path of her touch.

Loki had no illusions about himself. He was a misanthrope with an insidious understanding of human nature. His heart was forever divided between the malign than the benign. Not only did he enjoy doing bad, he often took considerable pleasure in soiling the good. He was dangerous, mercurial and seductive. He was mischief's avatar. He ate chaos. He savoured destruction. And then _she_ came along and ruined everything. The realization that he was in love, had thrown Loki into a state of spiritual shock from which he still hadn't recovered. And now, seeing her again, was as overwhelming as walking into a miracle.

Loki approached an empty chair at the round table around which Laufey and Erindis were assembled, among others. His heart pounded like a battle drum as he slid into his chair. He was only feet away from Erindis. Somehow his love seemed too big a thing to keep contained at this tiny table. She did not look at him. If she registered him at all, it must have been as just another faceless Frost Giant in the corner of her eye. Her attention was monopolized by King Laufey.

"Tommorow, we test the potion," the King said to her.

"It shall be a triumphant day, Sir." Erindis said. Her voice was soft and lilting, as though the wolves, and eagles that had once lived within it had been tamed.

"Next, you will teach my men how to produce weapons of sorcery- with which to defend themselves, of course."

"They shall not only be protected, King Laufey, they shall be _mighty_." Erindis knew that this was either her last night in Jotunheim, or her last night alive. If Laufey decided to kill her, she would punish him for it in advance, by stoking his hopes.

Laufey's mouth curved into a smile. "And what brought about this change of heart, my formerly sullen Sorceress?"

Erindis smiled, and leaned forward, a wounded glitter in her eye. "If I am to sell my soul, King Laufey, I may as well get a good price for it…" She ran her fingers along the seed pearls of her throne. "You know, I am beginning to like Jotunheim."

Laufey looked as though someone had dropped an extravagantly wrapped present into his lap. "You no longer wish to return to Asgard?"

"Why should I want to go back there? What is there for me in Asgard?"

"Your wayward Lover, for one thing…"

_Loki. Again. _Laufey was always pouring vinegar into that particular wound. Did he want to see how long he could prod her before she broke down? "Loki doesn't want to see me."

Across the table, Loki's heart cracked and bled. It was not only what she said, but the stark conviction with which she had said it…

"I imagine that Loki will find a wife, in your absence," said Laufey. "He is King now, after all, and will be expected to marry soon."

"Loki never does what is expected," said Erindis defensively.

"O, but in this case, he just might… He has to maintain the trust of his people. What better way to do it then with a _Royal Wedding_?You people eat that up with a spoon. I suspect he won't have much trouble finding a bride," said Laufey, unwilling to let subject die. "Women see a bad man and immedietely sense the potential for redemption and reformation. He becomes the ultimate challenge. I imagine that's why they love Loki."

Erindis blushed. 'The potential for redemption and reformation'… Yes, she too had fallen for that particular trap. _Well observed, Laufey. Har. Har. Har._ But it was also more than that… When she first met Loki, Erindis found him imperious and mean yet strangely seductive. His mouth was a cave of venom and silky words. He could sting with a single glance. Loki frightened her, not because he was immoral, but because he made her want him anyway. Sealed within the impenetrable bubble of his own corruption, Loki was irresistible. The shocking fact was: it didn't matter if he ever became good.

"I hope his new wife, whoever she may be, has the strength to endure him," said Erindis.

Laufey smiled, taking her statement as a sign of her indifference. "I told you it would not hurt forever, Dearest Erindis," he said. "If only life was a little more gentle, and love a little more robust, eh?"

Erindis gazed at the King of Jotunheim with daggers in her eyes. "You misunderstand me, _Sir_." Her voice was molten. "I shall love Loki till my dying breath, _whenever that may be._ If you cut off my head tommorow, _I will love him with my spleen._ If he wed a thousand others, I would still love him."

"But he considers you so low that he did not even beg for your life. To him you are not only inferior, _you are insectoid._"

_Bastard,_ though Loki. His fists clenched under the table. 

Erindis blinked, "You say that as if my love for Loki was not a rational decision. It isn't. Nor is it a disease with a ready cure. Love has been the crullest miracle of my life, and despite everything, I would not give it up even if I could."

Across, the table, Loki placed a hand on his chest, as if to, somehow steady his racing heart.

Laufey stared at Erindis with furnace-like eyes. "You forget, little Erindis, that Loki may be out to kill you… You know his secret. For all we know, he may appear at any moment, and smite you where you stand. Who knows, he may even be in this room as we speak."

A smile traced Erindis's lips, "I do not fear death half as much as I fear living without him."

Loki's heart stopped.

"And yet,' said Laufey, clearly beginning to get a bit frustrated, "you are working with_ us_."

Erindis glanced at the gigantic clock face on the far wall of the ballroom. It was almost midnight. "Yes, I am. There is no accounting for that, is there? Either I've gone mad, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or you have, for trusting me."

Laufey stared at Erindis in such a way that Loki feared he might strike her and readied a spell at his fingers, to defend her if necessary. He had noticed the electric collar around Erindis's neck and guessed it was some sort of sorcery disabling device. Were it not for her wits, she would have been entirely helpless (but then, who wouldn't?)

Laufey's mouth curled into a sadistic smile. "You think that I am a fool, don't you?" he whispered, with strange glee. "Madness does run in my family you know… And violence."

"So I have heard," said Erindis.

"I am not ashamed it."

"_A pacifist like you_?" said Erindis sarcastically, "Why would you be?"

Laufey smiled. He seemed to take pleasure in her impudence; it must have filled him with wild fantasies about her eventual punishment. "Every throne is a throne won by blood, Erindis, either by a royal bloodline, or blood spilled from an enemy".

"You are forgetting your favourite, a combination of both: the murder of a royal brother."

A new darkness filled Laufey's eyes. "You read books, _and you think you know…_ Yes, I killed my brother to become King. But it was the will of nature! It is how it has always been!" For the first time since Erindis had known him, Laufey's true madness shone. "Kings succeed each other like mindless waves in an ocean. The ancient ones and the following ones and the ones yet to be born... They sweep great surfs of blood against the shore. There is no use looking out at them. There is no use worrying. It is no use vainly meditating on justice. There is no use giving into guilt. The waves never stop. The tide remains the same, forever. Your lover Loki knows that better than anyone."

Across the table, Loki felt sick. His real father knew how to speak and to carry himself with grace, which belied the fact that he was a raving lunatic.

"Loki never killed anybody," Erindis protested.

"How wrong you are, Ms. Erindis. Loki is death personified. I am sure he cannot breathe upon a flower without it turning to dust. Don't you see? He marked you for death the moment he met you."

"If I am marked for death," replied Erindis, "it is _you_ who have marked me."

Loki fumed in his seat. _If he lays one frosty finger on her… _But Erindis seemed entirely calm. She kept glancing at the clock above Laufey's head. Sweet, wicked girl; _what are you planning_?

Erindis looked at the clock again. _Five minutes to go_. Five more minutes in which to evade death. Five more minutes until she was a sorceress again. Erindis felt a surge of sympathetic adrenaline for Tigor. Tigor, good, dependable Tigor, who was up in Laufey's chambers right now_. _

Or so she thought.

Only, he wasn't. For, just a few hours earler, Tigor had had a change of heart.

He had gone home to bathe and change before the party a as he sat in his icy tub, submerged in a day's worth of his own filth, a paralizing new thought occurred to him.

_What if my death is slow?_ He remembered what Laufey liked to say just before he sent a man into the dungeons, '_Birth, not death will have been your greatest misfortune, once my men are through with you…' _Tigor was the squeamish sort. He had fainted once while attempting to dissect a Frost Rabbit in school.

And yet, it was not what this fear which changed Tigor's mind. No. Cowardly or not, he would have still gone through with it. A promise was a promise.

What changed Tigor's mind was the sudden, almost inexplicable change in his wife's attitude toward him. That evening she burst into the bathroom, _smiling _to see him.

"Tigor!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with delight, "I just heard you have been invited to King Laufey's elite party! Jord's wife tells me that he has lavished his special attention on you three these past few days. You never told me, you sneaky fox!" Tigor was overwhelmed. It was more adoration crammed into thirty seconds than he had received from her in the past decade. "Is it true that the King has sanctioned a Jotun Council of Science and that he means to make it a top priority in the realm?"

"Um-ah- yes, actually, it is…" Tigor didn't know what to say. His wife looked as though she would have liked to dip him in Gringham sauce and devour him.

"I cannot tell you how proud I am of my sweet, sweet man!"

"Y-you are?" Since when was he her 'sweet, sweet man'? Had she taken too many of those healing herbs and was fantasizing about sentient gingerbread again?

"Of course I am!" she cried, as if to think say otherwise would be sheer lunacy. "And I was thinking, since you are to become such an established figure in the realm, with _all of the benefits that entails, _perhaps we should start thinking about a son, to continue his father's legacy…"

"A-a-a son? M-my son?"

"_Our _son you silly man. It's time we started trying again. Soon we shall find ourselves living in a house thrice as big as this and we don't want to live in it all by ourselves, do we?"

"You want _us _to have a child together?"

"Why of course! We are man and wife are we not? Who else do you propose you propagate with?

"A gorilla, I believe was your suggestion a couple of nights ago..."

Tigor's wife rolled her eyes, "Everyone knows there are no such thing as Gorillas, you fiendish little man!"

"You want us to start _a family_?" Tigor felt as though his heart lay balanced atop a violin's taut string, which could snap at any moment.

"I do," she said, and looked at him in a way he had almost forgotten. Tigor felt a swell in his chest, as though he was fifteen again and had just spotted her waiting by the steps of a library. He remembered the moment, all those years ago when he had willed her eyes to find his. It was a moment which had made all the subsequent miseries of his life worth bearing. Tigor knew that would never stop adoring this woman. She made all the grief and guilt of his life seem soluble. She made him want to live! Forget Erindis. Forget Loki. Forget King Laufey. _She _was all that mattered. If _she _wanted him to live, then damn it, he would.

That night, as Tigor left his house, his wife gave him the first _proper _kiss he had had in years. He attended the party for a full hour but the whole time, he could not wait to go home to her. He left the Palace just before midnight.

As Tigor walked through the snow in the pale moonlight, he vowed that would not waste another moment of his life feeling wretched or guilty. The universe was as indifferent to his crimes as it was to his suffering, so what was the point of feeling guilty? Eighty people had died because of him. How would helping Erindis have changed that? Why did it need to be changed? Eventually he would die too. History, that most aloof witness, would march on, changing here and repeating itself there. Nobody would remember Tigor. Nobody would care if he had kept his promise, or if he had ever been honourable. Heroism was like a forest fire, one never knew when it was going to flare up, and when it was going to abruptly die. _The only thing that matters,_ thought Tigor,_ is living wholly and passionately, __**now**__. _

Of course, Erindis was not aware that Tigor had undergone any epiphanies in the last four hours. With only five minutes to midnight, she expected she would be teleporting home before Laufey had time to finish his oncoming tirade.

"You think you are special don't you, _Erindis_? You think you matter in the greater equation?" The King of Jotunheim was furious now.

"I think no such thing, Sir, I just want to go home."

"Home is whatever toilet fate regurgitates you into."

"What a lovely image."

"Thank you, I am often told I have the soul of a poet."

"I didn't think you had a soul, King Laufey."

"A soul is a luxury Ms. Erindis. A soul has to be tended and fattened with love and goodness. My soul died a long time ago."

"Dead people cannot love you. Perhaps you should have thought about that before you killed the mother of your son!"

The entire ballroom froze. Nobody dared to move a muscle but they all trembled slightly, like statues caught in an earthquake, keeping their eyes down. Stunned silence was becoming Erindis's leitmotif.

"You know so little, I am shocked your head doesn't collapse into a vacuum," whispered Laufey. His eyes danced. Erindis knew the expression by now. A man with a secret was like a man sitting on treasure, unable to contain himself, willing you to discover his gold... "All this time, you thought you could fool me in believing you were working for us. You thought I trusted you!"

"If you trusted me, I would not be wearing this collar."

Laufey laughed demonically. "Zounds! Her brain cell is firing again!"

"But you still expected me to help you… You still expected me to brew you a potion that would allow you to cross worlds…"

"Believe me, little Girl, I did not waste a moment _expecting _anything from you, except stupidity! O, and you didn't disappoint, by the way."

Erindis suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. "What are you talking about?"

"O, my puny darling, you didn't think for a moment that all this was for _you_, did you? _Somebody has an inflated view of her own importance!_" Laufey laughed heartily. He looked around, encouraging a few spectators to laugh too, which they did, in nervous sputters. "I would never have gone through all this trouble to welcome _you _into the realm. Does one throw a party for a roach or a worm? _No. _But one may use them as bait... That is your role, Ms. Erindis. That is the part you play in this grand drama."

Erindis tried in vain to understand.

"In a way you _are _important," mused Laufey, "for how else could I have lured my son back to me?"

Erindis gasped.

Loki's stomach lurched again.

"You thought I didn't know that Loki is my son?" cried Laufey. "I suspected it from the moment that green eyed demon entered my lair. Rot breeds rot. I should have known it as soon as Odin confessed his fears to me. But I didn't know for certain, until you and I had that fateful conversation; until you looked me in the eye and asked me if Odin had taken 'just my son, or my wife as well?' How reckless you are, with your words and your looks. Why else would Odin have told you about the child he stole from me, if it wasn't pertinent to your mission; if the child in question was not Loki himself?"

Erindis was silent. She felt numb, used and useless at the same time.

"Everybody has a fatal flaw, Erindis, yours is that you assume everyone around is simpler than yourself."

"And yours is that you're a homicidal maniac."

"Tsk. Tsk. There you go _simplifying_ again. Have you ever had a child Ms. Erindis?"

"Obviously not."

"Then you do not know what it is to have your child stolen from you. Steel through the heart could not hurt me now…"

"You seem to have forgotten, that it was _you _who abandoned Loki in that temple."

"You were not there!" In an instant, Laufey's voice lost its imperious edge. Now he spewed only hoarse despair. "They were coming from all directions; the Asgardians, hungry for our blood, but _starving_ for our humiliation! For a moment, I lost my head. I panicked." Laufey's eyes closed as the memory lighted on him. "I carried the baby in my arms. He was as light as a feather against my chest. He no longer had a mother, now he would no longer have an empire! He was so horribly small, you see, and helpless. Jotunheim has no tolerance for the helpless…"

"He was a baby!"

Laufey ignored her. "It was only a moment… Just one moment… I lost my head, but only _for a moment_! How was I to know that a moment would be all it took? As soon as I was back in the palace I regretted it leaving him there. Had knew that I had gone temporarily mad. It was the only explanation. I ran back to the temple, but by then, he was gone. _My son _was gone. He was condemned to a fate worse even than death, he was condemned to live as _one of them_. There has not been a day since then that went by without my thinking about him, without my longing to see him. Without him, my life was meaningless. My legacy was meaningless. A King needs an heir like a body needs air. I took many women after Loki's mother, but not one of them bore me any children. It was the cosmos' final trick."

Erindis, despite everything, felt intense pity for Laufey. She made sure she didn't show it. "But you were ashamed of Loki," she said. "He was born abnormally small for a Frost Giant, so you kept him out of sight. You were _ashamed._"

"I was never ashamed!" shot back Laufey. "I knew that _my _son would grow up to be more powerful than any of his race, no matter what size he was- and wouldn't you know it, _I was right_! It was _Inge _who was ashamed."

Erindis's eyes widened.

"O, yes. _His own mother. _She couldn't even look at him. They tried to hand him to her when he was born, she took one look and turned her head away. How she cursed him! '_I have given birth to a rodent!' _she wailed. _'Valahalla has cursed us.' 'The Gods have turned my womb into a maggot filled spicery!' 'That is no son of mine cradled there in that silk. By Valhalla, I shall never be his mother; he shall never know my name!'_ She had always been fragile, but giving birth to a deformed baby turned pushed Inge beyond the boundaries of despair. The baby cried all day. She refused to see it, and although he was handed over to nursemaids in faraway chambers, she claimed she could always hear him screaming. It tormented her. She claimed she could never have a moment's peace, Just a week after Loki was born, Inge poisoned herself. I found her collapsed on our bed, her back hair fanned out over the pillow like an enormous wing span. My little bird was dead… Then the Asgardians came." 

Erindis was speechless at first. She had never heard a more sorrowful story. _If Loki ever learned of this…_ "What do you want now, Laufey?" she asked. "What do you hope to accomplish?"

"I want my son back. He is my family. He is my heir. Together we shall unite the Kingdoms of Asgard and Jotunheim and rule them together! With the Frost Relic, we will be _unstoppable._"

"Loki will never rule with you."

"He will! I am his true father! His life, his talents he owes everything to _me_!"

"You forget that Loki is also Odin's son."

Laufey choked on his own anger. "He is not Odin's son! He proved that himself! One can change one's appearance with tricks of sorcery, but one cannot change one's nature. Loki has already revealed himself. Life is a wheel. What we have done once, we shall do again. We do not change. We can run from who we are, but we can never escape."

"Loki loves Odin. Everything he ever did was because he loved Odin."

It seemed to cause Laufey physical pain to hear this statement. "ENOUGH!" he bellowed. "You have said enough. Loki will be here to collect you soon."

Shock ran threw Erindis's veins. "What?"

"O, yes, my apologies. As you can surely tell by now, it is in _my _inescapable nature to _lie. _You see, three days ago I made a little deal with my son. I told him he had to bring me the genuine Jotun Frost Relic or else you would suffer a slow, painful death. I have never seen a man so upset."

"But Loki hates me!"

"No, unfortunately, he doesn't. I'm afraid, that, against all sense and good judgement, Loki appears to love you."

Erindis's felt as though her heart was suddenly buoyed by a soaring balloon, which was quite strange, given the circumstances.

"But he won't love you for long," spat Laufey. "Not once he finds out that you betrayed Asgard by teaching sorcery to its enemies."

"But I didn't! That potion was never going to work on you! It requires a technique which-"

"Which you _promised _to teach us," said Laufey triumphantly. "Everyone will testify to your disloyalty, and to your _derangement. _We shall say that you were driven mad by heartbreak. You were even about to help us build a sonic bomb. _We did not pressure you. _You volunteered. How were we to know that your mind was unsound? How were we to know that you would fling yourself out of a fourteen storey window? We shall tell Loki that you cursed his name as you fell."

Loki's blood was boiling.

"He won't believe you!" spat Erindis.

"Love warps even the greatest minds, I learned that with Loki's mother."

Erindis glanced at the clock above Laufey's head. It was three minutes past midnight. She smiled, "I will say it again, Laufey, Loki will _never _believe you." With that, Erindis leaned forward and concentrated. She was supposed to feel the potion percolating inside her, but she didn't. She strained herself. Could it be that Tigor had not succeeded? Had he been caught by a guard? Erindis tried to conjure a spell. Nothing happened. Every attempt at sorcery proved futile. Her plan had failed. She had failed. She was dead.

Laufey looked confused, "I'm sorry, are you constipated?"

Slow tears were ran down Erindis's cheek. "_You bastard_," she whispered.

"Yes, I am rather, aren't I? It appears the old cliché is true: like father, like son. But you know," added Laufey, leaning in to look her directly in the eye, "I will never understand how a son of _mine, _could degrade himself by laying a finger on you… O well, I suppose we all love somebody unworthy at some point in our lives, I certainly did with Inge! One day, Loki will thank me sparing him further humiliation." With that, Laufey snapped his fingers and two burly guards appeared on either side of Erindis. "Take her to the dungeons, where scum like her belongs. Put her in the room at the farthest end of the hall, so that she may have time to ruminate on her impending death."

Erindis cried softly as she was taken away. "Loki will never love you," she cried. "You are making a terrible mistake!"

This too Loki had to endure. He had spent much of his life as a silent, agonized witness. It appeared now, to have all been a rehearsal for _this_. He had never loved anything the way he loved Erindis. It was a love that revealed himself _to _himself, as though he were a nobler stranger. And he had never hated anything more than he hated Laufey at that moment. All manner of violent deaths would have been too kind for him. By wounding Erindis, Laufey had driven a nail straight through Loki's heart.

When Erindis was gone, the musicians struck up again and Laufey sat back in his throne. "_You were magnificent_," Loki heard his father's new wife whisper to him. The room got drunker and louder. Loki knew that Laufey was counting down the hours to his arrival. _Let him wait. _

Loki made his exit a few minutes later. Once he was alone in a deserted hallway, he closed his eyes, _POP!ed _into a quick black snake and proceeded to slither toward the dungeon. He easily bypassed the Frost Giant guards. There was a disadvantage to being so tall that one barely registered the happenings at one's feet. Loki slithered toward the room at the end of the hall. Then, with a _POP! _he became a beetle, the animal he had been when he had first seen Erindis. He crawled beneath the door into her cell. It was pitch black inside, but Loki could see her lying there, the curve of her neck silhouetted by the dimmest shaft of light. She was crying and shaking.

_POP!_

Loki became an Asgardian again.

Erindis gasped. "Who's there?" But before she could utter another word, Loki flew toward her and, in the darkness, grabbed her and covered her lips with his. She struggled for half a second, and then _she realized. _Her breath caught against his mouth and she pulled him closer to her. They pressed against each other with more violence and urgency than ever before. There was no sight, there were no words. There was only touch, a pure, all consuming need for one another's flesh, as though it were the straw by which they clung on to existence. Their kisses were scattered with sobs of joy, and laughter muffled by further kisses. Erindis felt Loki's face in the darkness. She ran her fingers along his nose, cheeks, jaw, chest, as if she were making sense of him; confirming, to her disbelieving soul, that he was real.

"I am here," he whispered against her throat, "It's me."

Erindis's only utterance was a feeble, indistinct sound. Tearfully, she sought Loki's lips. She had lost her capacity for speech.

"My Love," breathed Loki as he lay frantic kisses on her nose and eyelids, "Speak to me…"

Erindis tried to speak but could only sob.

Loki waved his hand and conjured a dim blue flame which he set on the floor. He looked at Erindis. Her face was as white as old bones. She trembled in his arms. He pressed her into his chest. She inhaled his familiar scent.

_I am dreaming _she warned herself, _or else I am dead. _At any moment she would wake to a stark, Loki-less reality. And yet… there was his heart, beating against hers. Palpable. Real.

"Erindis," he breathed. "_My_ _Erindis._" And by '_my'_ Loki really meant, '_the one who owns me'_, but now was no time for semantics. "Forgive me," he whispered. "Forgive me. Forgive me…"

It was then that Erindis recovered her voice. "For what?" she asked, with genuine curiosity.

"For everything."

_Forgive him? _Thought Erindis. Did she forgive her own head, when it ached? Or her eyes when they deceived her? How could she forgive Loki, when he was _part _of her, when he was nearer to her than her own flesh? Erindis answered him with a deep kiss. She could tell this overwhelmed him. She felt the warmth of his chest through her thin dress. It was the warmest thing she had felt in days. "How did you find me?" she whispered against the smooth skin of his clavicle.

"I was there, in the ballroom the entire time. I sat across from you at the table. I was- I mean, _I am, _a Frost Giant. You didn't notice me."

"Y-you mean, you heard _everything_?"

"Yes."

Erindis hugged Loki more tightly.

Much was said, without words. For words were puny at a time like this.

For an eternity, Loki and Erindis lay there, ensconced in bliss. And they could have passed an eternity more. Soon, stillness gave way to another flurry of passion. They very nearly made love right there on the cold ground. But Loki stopped himself just as he was about to attack the skin of her navel with his mouth. He looked up at her and whispered, "I must get you home, My Love."

"I can't teleport," said Erindis, "This collar-"

Before she could answer, Loki zapped her neck with a pulse of energy. The collar snapped apart. "Is broken," he said. His boyish, sensual lips curved into a smile.

Erindis attacked him.

"We cannot wait any longer," he protested, though he was just as voracious in his caresses as she was in hers. "A guard might pass by here. And as tempting as the thought of elicit sex is, there is at least one very good reason why we should leave this place, _now._" Loki had, up until now, completely forgotten about the Frost Relic in his pouch. Yes, this woman was a hazard.

"Yes, Sir," said Erindis, recalling the earliest dynamics of there relationship.

Loki looked into her eyes. He saw the promise of his whole life there. It pained him to have to do what he was about to do. "Are you ready?" he asked, leaning forward in teleportation stance.

"Ready if you are."

"I am ready," said Loki. But this was a lie. He was not ready. He could never have been ready. Not for this. Loki took Erindis's hand.

Erindis leaned forward and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the Sulpher-Climide-Orellian potion now coursing through her veins. She took one final inhale of Loki's neck and hurled herself into the space between universes. Just before she felt Jotunheim disappear behind her, Loki let go of her hand.

When she opened her eyes, Erindis found herself on the floor near the fireplace of Loki's chambers. Alone. She looked around frantically. "Loki!" she called out. No answer. No sign of him. Next to her was Loki's pouch.

It was then that Erindis spotted a white envelope propped up on the couch. It read, '_For Erindis'._ Erindis grabbed and ripped open the letter.

_Dearest Erindis,_

_If you are reading this, it means that you are safe, and the most important part of my mission, the reason I have undertaken all of this, has been accomplished. But my trials are far from over. Laufey's actions, his ability to inhibit your sorcery powers (as was evidenced in the harrowing holorecording he played for me)has convinced me that I must do everything in my power to stop him. If the Frost Giants are able to come up with something that advanced, there is no telling what else they could accomplish in a few years time. I have just come back from the dungeon of the Palace of Asgard and have stolen the Jotun Frost Relic. It spoke to me. Only now have I come to realize what it is that Laufey really wants. Me. I am about to teleport into Jotunheim to rescue you. Once you are safely home, I shall return to Jotunheim and deal with some unfinished business. _

_When my Stepmother told me that the reason Odin had taken me, was that he hoped I would some day unite the Kingdoms of Asgard and Jotunheim and bring about a permanent peace, I felt as though I had been raised to be nothing more than a diplomatic tool. I was blind with rage and grief. Do not think that I am attempting in any way to justify what I did the next day. Nor am I attempting to justify my nature, as a whole. I am well aware of what I am: a vampiric parasite that feeds on goodness and love. I enjoy doing bad. It gives me a sharp pleasure. The fact that I now regret my actions, does not negate the zeal with which I pursued them. _

_Forgive me, sweetest Erindis, I know there is nothing more tedious than a Satan with a stirring conscience… But the fact is I have made an intolerable mess out of the lives of those I love. I do not believe there can be such a thing as redemption for me. But there can, however unjustly, be love. It was cruel of the universe to make you fall in love with me. It was infinitely crueller to make me love you back! It may as well have infected a cockroach with love for a star. _

_As you read this, my Sweet Love, I am undertaking a task which I seem to have been bred for. Only I can defeat Laufey, because only I am more devious than him. _

_Just know that I love you, Erindis. Never doubt that. Know that you are everything to me. Do not forget it for second. If anything happens to me, it is you I shall be thinking of in the final moment, and beyond it. _

_Yours Forever,_

_Loki _

**I hope that chapter was not too long winded. This story is not over yet. I shall endeavour to update very soon!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Please forgive me for leaving this story unfinished for so long. Life and health have been hectic. **

**I am posting the next three chapters all at once. Much love and hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 21: Long live the King

The wind was wild outside the Palace of Jotunheim, rattling windows with more than the usual insistence, as if to welcome its prodigal son finally, officially home.

.

Loki did not come in his Frost Giant form. It would have made Laufey happy to see him that way and he did not owe the tyrant one stitch of happiness. It puzzled even him that the Frost Giant King could torment the woman he loved and then expect sonly acceptance. All in the same night! What a strange species of madness! But then again, Laufey thought his son to be a monster. Indeed, he was _proud_ of him for it. Loki smiled bitterly: to think that _this_ was the only paternal pride he would ever inspire…

And yet, as he reached the black lacquered doors of the ballroom, Loki knew, in the bottom of his soul,that he deserved no better.

It had been hours since the party ended. All of the guests were gone and the room appeared even more monstrously large than before. The walls wept in slow, steady streams and the enormous window shook ominously. At its centre, slouched on a throne of opal and white seed pearls, with his eyes closed and his mouth parted just enough for a penny to pass through it, sat the King of Jotunheim, fast asleep. He snored. It was a surprising snore: faint and hollow, like an old woman whistling in her sleep.

He was all alone. Unguarded. How easily Loki could have killed him now! How easily sliced him open, _unzipped him_ chin to navel, with one sweet stroke of his blade… where he so inclined. He wondered: would it have been a lame or poetic end, for the man who had spent centuries looking over his shoulder, torturing and killing upon the slightest whisper of conspiracy. 'To let one's guard down once_', _went the old Jotun saying,'is to betray a lifetime of mindfulness_'. _

_Perhaps,_ _had Loki lingered on the impulse for a moment longer… _

But it was at that moment that Laufey's eyelids shot upward. Upon seeing Loki, he let out an involuntary, guttural sound unlike any he had heard before. He blinked, then widened his red eyes, as if to confirm the vision in front of him. "You came." he croaked. The Frost King's features melted into something unrecognizable. The expression made Loki recoil as though he had just been spat on. All of the venom had drained from that voice. Loki remembered how the King had bellowed at Erindis just hours ago; how terrible and powerful he had seemed. And now, here he was, tenderized by Loki's mere presence. "My Son," he said. The word itself was exaltation. The word itself was ecclesiastical ecstasy.

Laufey sighed. What a relief it was, not to have to pretend anymore, not to have to steel himself as his child, _his own child, _stood inches away from him. Here he was at last; that tiny baby, that piece of himself which had been cast out into the cold universe and had now made its way back to him. Oceans of time had been mere prelude to this moment. "You do not know how I have waited for this…"

Loki shuddered. It was too much: the sheer _indecency _of Laufey's happiness. The Frost Giant King was a schemer, a manipulator, the only man who had ever rivalled him in guile. But now the mask had finally dropped, and his true face was revealed. It terrified Loki more than anything he could have imagined, for he saw flashes of himself in that face. Not the cunning self, not the silver-tongued deceiver of the world, but the grotesque, starving creature that lay beneath.

"I knew you would come," said Laufey, beaming ridiculously now. The words made Loki want to singe those red eyes right out of their sockets. "I knew from the moment that _girl _mentioned _my son_… I knew that it was you. I should have known even sooner."

"Congratulations, Laufey, you are very perceptive." Loki said it coldy. The Frost Giant would get not one cinder of emotion.

Immedietly Laufey stiffened and leaned forward on his throne. "You are still angry with me. I understand."

"Do you?"

"It was not entirely honest, the way I orchestrated your return here."

"_Orchestrated my return here_?" Loki nearly snorted. "You couldn't '_orchestrate_' a free concert with the United Jotun Philharmonic."

Laufey laughed at this and his good humour infuriated Loki further. "I suppose you are angry about your little girlfriend…" Laufey began, "Now, I must tell you something…"

Loki knew the lie that he was coming and in a way, it relieved him. _Deception, at last_! He couldn't stomach any more _earnestness._

"You must not blame me," Laufey continued, "She was already stark raving mad by the time she got here! One second she would be collaborating with us on weapons of-"

"Why don't you save yourself the breath," Loki interrupted. The lie was not the balm he had hoped for after all, but merely a new kind of kindling for his rage. "I was at the ball. I heard every word you said."

Laufey looked at his son in shock. "So it is true?"

"What?"

"That you can... change… into _anything_?"

Loki ignored his father's question. "Erindis is back in Asgard now".

Laufey smiled wryly, "You _rescued _her?" The word not only amused him, but seemed to regenerate his smugness as well.

"The Frost Relic is gone too. It was here, briefly. I brought it with me. But it is gone now." Loki leaned in closer. "I was going to kill you with it, you see. I hear it's tradition." He was hoping that his unwillingness to produce the Relic might return Laufey to his cold demeaner.

He was mistaken.

"I am glad you are here, with or without the Relic. _My son_ is worth immeasurably more to me than that object. The Relic is merely a tool. True Kings do not need Relics to rule. You and I shall bring our Kingdom into a Golden Age, _together_. What is an old family heirloom worth, compared with _your _brilliance?"

Damn.

A moment of silence passed between them. Endless. Awkward. Made more awkward by the fact that Laufey's heart seemed to hover suspended in the air between them, audaciously beating. How much more merciful it would have been, for Loki to have killed him in his sleep…

"You think I came here to _join _you?"

Laufey said nothing but suddenly looked as fragile as Frost Giant could.

"You sad, delusional old man…" whispered Loki. "You really thought that I would leave Asgard, that I would leave the woman I love, in order to come _here_ and take my place among these dilapidated castles and these dilapidated people?" The taste of cruelty lingered on Loki's lips as he said this and, as so often happened, he found himself greedy for it. "How pathetic; how hopelessly sentimental of you, _Laufey._"

Laufey's volcanic eyes narrowed and hardened. They regarded Loki's un-Jotun form. "You wear it well," he said, "this _costume_."You could _almost_ pass for one for them, were it not for the fact that you betray yourself time and time again." Then Laufey stood up from his throne, leaned down and touched Loki's face, as if trying somehow to would diffuse him.

Fingertip to cheek. No icicles forming on contact. A fact registered by both.

Then Loki caught his Father's wrist in a superhuman grip. His hand barely wrapped all the way round the gigantic wrist yet he knew, instantly, he could crush the bones if he wanted. "If you touch me again," he breathed, "it will be the last thing you do- before dying." He let go, immediately feeling remorse, and anger at this remorse.

Laufey looked down and rubbed his wrist. Strong enough to bruise, his son was. Strong enough to grind his skeleton. And cruel enough to break his heart. And yet, there it was again, swelling like a golden ball in the chest: _paternal pride_. "Point taken," he said quietly. "But I am confused and I wonder if you could help me…"

"Go on."

"You say you have no desire to rule your homeland; that you would never want leave your lover alone in Asgard…"

"Yes."

"Well, you see, the unavoidable fact is that you _are_ here, aren't you?" Laufey glared at his son for a moment, savouring in the watertight logic of his last statement. "You are _not_ in Asgard. You are _not_ with Erindis. Are you?"

"No," said Loki. He was not sure now which he was more violently allergic to, Laufey's smugness or his sentiment.

"So, that must mean that there is something here that draws you, some_ irresistible force_, even in the face of a warm woman in your chambers and a Kingdom at your feet."

"You are right about that."

"Well, what is it?"

Loki could tell Laufey was steeling himself for the answer.

"Fear."

"_Fear_?"

"Yes."

Laufey laughed. "I may be a sentimental fool in your eyes Loki, but I am not _stupid._ I have seen your magic. I freely admit it: I am no match for you. You are a sorcerer." Then he leaned in and his red eyes had a twinkle (_a twinkle!_) in them. "To tell you the truth, your superiority is a source of pride for me."

It was Loki's turn to laugh. A hollow, joyless laugh. "It is not _you _I am afraid of."

"What then?"

Loki paused for a moment before speaking. "Both of our Kingdoms are in a perilous position. The Jotuns fear Asgard, and Asgard is… _confused_ in its feelings toward Jotunheim. Fear, Confusion, distrust: I think you will agree that it can be an explosive combination."

"Absolute dynamite," said Laufey.

"Your people have advanced considerably in terms of technology. You are capable of more than we imagined."

"And we could be capable of so much more…"

"Yes, you could potentially become very dangerous."

Laufey sighed wistfully, "Yes."

"On the other hand, there is Asgard…"

"Yes."

"Potentially, even more dangerous…"

"Precisely!"

"I imagine," said Loki, "that once Odin awakes from his sleep, he will discover my crimes and accept Thor back as heir to the throne."

"_If _he wakes up from his sleep…" Laufey's red eyes were dancing.

"You have always underestimated my Father," said Loki, "even as your Kingdom lay at his mercy. I shall never understand that…"

Laufey frowned.

"As I was saying, _when _Odin awakes from his sleep, he will reinstate Thor as his heir. Now, _I love my brother_, more than I ever realized. I am truly sorry for what I did to him. I will always feel sadness for my betrayal. But I know why I did it. And if I had the chance to do it over, I would do the same. My love for him does not negate the fact that he is utterly unsuitable to for rule. His petulance and apparent lust for war could well lead him to make choices that would be catastrophic for both of our Kingdoms."

"Exactly!" cried Laufey. "That is why you and I must join forces and keep Asgard at bay! Don't you see? You were born to be the saviour and protector of Jotunheim! Set your selfish desires aside, and see the path that is clear in front of you! You were born _greater _than other men. The rest of the world is a menagerie of sheep compared to you and I!"

I stuck Loki anew what a grotesque thing the Frost King's ego was; like an organ- nay, a body unto itself- diseased, overgrown, covered in bursting veins and pustules, filling the entire room and choking the air. It needed to live. It required so much: energy, blood, service. Yet its continued living was agony for all. A man like that that was a force, a petulance, a catastrophic accident of nature. His corruption was unstoppable. Irreversable.

And what made it suddenly so terrifying to Loki was just how familiar it was, _how well he knew_.

He suddenly felt incredibly weary, of the room, this conversation, and Laufey's desperate, searching eyes.

He turned away from him and walked towards the window, pressing his hand against the glass to stop the rattling. He looked out over the frozen vastness stretching before him. The night had grown blacker. Peaks of mountains, darker than the sky, rose like tombs in the distance. He had not realized, before, that the sky actually changed in Jotunheim; that perpetual night had its infinite variations. He looked down into the area near the front entrance of the Palace. A servant was attempting to relight a torch that had been smothered by the wind. It was a futile yet strangely transfixing battle: the man and the resisting torch wrangling in the wind. The few promising sparks swallowed again and again, as though by some hidden creature, greedy for light.

That was at that moment that Loki realized, with sudden, shocking certainty, what his future would be; and why it _had _to be.

Loki had not come to Jotunheim with an exact plan. He had allowed himself to imagine heroism, triumph, completion, a mission with an end. How could he have born coming back had he known otherwise? His mind had tricked him. His mind, which knew him all too well, had allowed him the fantasy of once more returning to Erindis; of feeling her rapturous hands against his neck and burying himself in her being like an escaped soul. The illusion had been necessary to bring him to this moment; to this unquestionable realization.

He knew now that he would never see her or Asgard again. They would go on existing without him. And he, absurdly, would go on existing without them. A drop of something grazed the front of his hand. Loki looked down and realized he was crying. He did not bother to hide his face from Laufey. 'Bothering' to do such a thing seemed so impossibly far away.

"I have come here to put an end to you." he said at last.

Laufey's face drained some of its colour. "B-but you are my son… We must rule together, _you and I_. You have the power to usher in new age in Jotunheim…" Laufey was practically begging. To his surprise, Loki felt pity. What endless torment it must be, being _him_.

"Look at your Kingdom," said Loki, "your people cower in fear. They are stalled in a dark age or terror and ignorance. Nobody even dares to hope for better. How long has it been since you were defeated by Odin? Centuries? Centuries of darkness. Centuries of degradation. Centuries of tyranny. You dream of revenge against Asgard, as though somehow, all of your wretchedness will be washed clean by our blood."

"It is Jotun blood which flows through your veins!" shouted Laufey.

Jotun blood. Yes.

And yet what difference did it make to Loki now?

What difference did it make whether his blood was Jotun or Asgardian? What difference did it make whether it raced through him or flowed as darkly and as sluggishly as wine? What difference did it make if his body housed blood at all? Whether it was composed of flesh or of twisted steel? Whether he had a silver tongue or was entirely mute? Whether he perspired or melted altogether? Whether his life was scheduled to end tomorrow, or days from now, or meander dully through the eons? What difference did it make if he was man or woman? God or insect? Strong or frail? His body was merely a vessel of love, _for her._ As long as he carried on existing, it would be so. She was engraved in him forever.

"You mean to kill me then, My Son?" questioned Laufey, breaking his reverie. "That is why you have come here?"

Loki shook is head, biting back tears. "No, you will die of your own accord, sooner or later. But you shall not rule."

"I see," said Laufey. "So you have come to usurp my Kingdom, while I waste away in chains…"

It was all Loki could do to choke back his rage at this statement. "You think I _want_ to rule here?" he spat. "You think I _want _to be here?"

"Pardon me," said Laufey sarcastically, "for not immediately assuming that you are here for altruistic reasons… Your record up till has not exactly been that of the selfless liberator of oppressed peoples. In fact, Jotunheim will hardly be the _first _Kingdom you usurp. Y-you think you are one of _them_, don't you? You think you are a _heroic Asgardian_. You think your soul is salvageable." Laufey was seething now. "Well let me tell you: it is not. I _know _you. You are no different from me. You think you love that girl. She thinks she sees some good in you and you start to believe it a little… But you and I both know that you are a living poison; a slow spreading stain. Nothing of light can survive in your wake. Look what you have done to your family. Look what you have done to your Kingdom. To that girl, that helpless creature who loves you. Look at me, Loki, and see _yoursel_f. Where men like us go, a fire goes, destroying everything."

"For once, King Laufey, we are in complete agreement."

Yes, it was fear that had brought Loki back to Jotunheim, and it was _himself_ which he feared the most.

"You are right," said Loki, "I am not in the habit of doing good things. And after all, it is a man's actions that reveal his true nature." He circled Laufey now like an opportunistic gull. "But perhaps it would be easier for me to say that it is 'too late for me to be anything else'; easier to live in corrupt contentment and remain the lethal fire, than to do good, _now_, when know I can, when the opportunity is _right here, _screaming in front of me…" Loki closed his eyes and swallowed. He already tasted the regret, the heaviness coating his throat like metal. "You are right when you say that I could'usher in a new age in Jotunheim'. Perhaps more importantly, I am the only one who can protect it_._ How long would it take, after you have fallen, for another madman just like youto crop up and continue the same way? How long, with all the centuries hatred, with all the fear that you have fostered here?"

Laufey was silent. It was slowly dawning on him what his Son intended to do. "You think that _you _are the great, virtuousautocrat, the _Odin, _that this realm needs?"

"I am nothing like Odin," said Loki quietly, "But perhaps this is the one place in the universe where I may do more good than harm."

Laufey smirked. "And what of glittering Asgard? Do you really believe you can rule two Kingdoms at once?"

"No," replied Loki simply. He looked out into the velvet darkness outside, to the point in the sky where the Bifrost connected invisibly to Jotunheim. He raised his hand and pressed it against the window. He closed his eyes and uttered an incantation. Slowly, the floor beneath them began to tremble. At first, a single crack snaked across the glass, then, a moment later, the window appeared solid white with cracks and shattered into dust. The wind invaded Laufey's palace at once, cannoning into the walls, which themselves had split in places. The chandelier smashed against the floor. A high pitched sound, halfway between the wind and a scream, grew louder and louder as Loki continued his incantation.

"What are doing!" cried Laufey, covering his ears.

Loki did not stop. When the Frost Giant leapt toward him, he raised his free hand and sent a shock wave through him that knocked him off his feet and rendered him semi-conscious. The sky above Loki's hand appeared to flower open and burst forth with white and purple light. Loki continued his incantation. Tears were streaming down his face again. He spoke louder, not stopping, even as he begged himself to stop. Lightening slashed the sky. The light became brighter, splitting into a spectrum of blinding colours.

When at last he finished, the sky closed again and became even blacker than before. The planet stilled beneath him, and Loki fell to his knees, sobbing.

It was gone now. She was gone, protected from him forever.

Had he only known how brief their time together would be...

Had he known it, as they sat, knees touching, in the Banquet hall, eyeing one another like assassins. Had he known, in those first, smug days, _when he thought he ruled her_;when,_ fool, _he imagined himself indifferent to her love... Had he known, that night when she ran towards him, after going swimming in the creek, dripping from head to toe, wild eyed, with mud on her cheek; the night she had made him literally dizzy with desire. Had he known that afternoon in the steam room, when, in the form of Sif, he tricked her trusting soul into spilling its secrets. Had he known, as he listened to her confess love for him, as though she were confessing a murder. Or first time his lips met hers, when she trembled against chest on the balcony and his heart exploded. What a genuine shock it had been to realize he was in love. How he had fought against it! How he had tortured her! Yet, had he known, during the hours of heaven they spent in bed, that their embraces were numbered... Had he known it, _mere hours earlier_, as they held each other in the fevered darkness of the dungeon… Had he known that one day he would have to live without that beloved face; that _memories _would be his life's oasis… He would have held her. Drank her. Clung to the insufficient bliss of fleetingly _having_ her_._ He would not have wasted time on anything else. 

But Loki had not known. And it was over now.

A frozen wind whipped his body, rattling _him_ now that there was no window to rattle. The enormity of his grief seemed to flatten him into a two dimensional object. Before him stretched the endless wilderness of Jotunheim. Such would be endless wilderness of his life now. He was barely aware of Laufey, still on his back, stirring a few feet away from him.

BANG!

The ballroom doors suddenly swung open and hundreds of Jotun guards and courtiers spilled into the room. Their perplexed, terrified faces surveyed the wreckage. There were women and children among the crowd. Young and old. They did not know what to make of the sight of their barely conscious King and the pale, crouching Asgardian who seemed to be responsible.

"W-what has happened here?" questioned a guard in a silver ermine cape.

"Your King has been deposed," said Loki. "Incidentally, he's my Father."

An audible shock passed through the crowd. The Frost Giants looked at one another and Loki. After a few moments, one man stepped forward. For a moment he stared at Loki unscrutably, then, dropped to his knees and bent his head forward in the lowest bow he could muster. More followed suit, dropping, one after the other, until the entire crowd of Frost Giants formed a prostrate sea before him. _If only it were possible to drown oneself in people_.

"Rise," he commanded gently. He gestured toward Laufey's crumpled form. "This man has murdered, tortured and intimidated you for centuries. He has made you fear for your lives and the lives of your families. He has even tried to control what you think, and what you learn. That is over now. I am a powerful sorcerer but I will not use my powers to harm you. The time has come for learning, progress and peace." Loki's will was not in his words, yet he said them anyway. They were needed. He remembered the way Odin delivered his speeches; and Thor too, way up high in his stadium in the clouds. "No foreign invaders can ever come here now. Not a single Asgardian can step foot Jotunheim_._ I have performed a spell called the '_Interdico_'. It has sealed the entrance of the Bifrost and placed an invisible bubble of protection around Jotunheim. It is now impossible for any Jotun to travel to Asgard. Not even I could teleport back, being a Jotun myself," said Loki, darkly adding, "no matter how much I might desire it_._ Nor can anyone, not of Jotun blood, gain entrance to this realm. An 'Iterdican Seal' is among of the most powerful magics in existence. It is a blood magic. Once it has been established, it is irrevocable. None of Jotun blood can pass through to Asgard. None of Asgardian blood can pass through to Jotunheim. Ever."

"HA HA HA HA HA!" Laufey had sat up on the floor and was laughing maniacly. "What have you done?" he spat in between cackles, "You can never see her again now! Your Erindis is lost forever! You g-g-gave up the love of your life to spend the remainder of your life in this _cesspit_?"

"Yes," replied Loki before addressing the crowd once again. "And in so doing, I have made it so that neither realm can ever harm the other."

"Is that the reason?" questioned Laufey dangerously, "or it that you have turned Jotunheim into your private prison, because you did not trust yourself to return to Asgard? That deep down you know that you could never truly love that woman; _that eventually you would let her down_ because the God Mischief is incapable of love, _because he is hardly human at all_?"

Loki walked over to Laufey and crouched beside him. "_You_ _know nothing,_" he breathed, barely audibly.

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Now listen carefully," he commanded, his voice ominously calm, "because there will be no more talk of humanity or love from you, after this. You gave me life, and for that I thank you. Without my life, I would never have loved, or have been loved. I would not have met Erindis. I would not have been subject to the miracle that has been my past few weeks with her. That is why I thank you. And if at any moment, in the next few years, you should find yourself in doubt of my gratitude, indeed, in doubt of my humanity; you have merely to remember _that you are still alive. _Let your every breath from now on be a testament to my humanity, let it be a testament to my soul. And when you do find yourself _breathing_ in your prison, remember that, once upon a time, you abandoned me inside of a temple; that you were unable to protect your own child, while _I_-" here Loki choked, fighting back tears, "While _I_ gave up _the best thing_- gave up the _joy _of my life to keep two uselessKingdoms from annihilating one another."

It was at this moment that Laufey's mind finally dissolved fully into madness. When it came, it was almost a benediction. A warm, merciful confusion flooded him. A loss of narrative. His mind drifted upstream from him, too rapidly to be followed. He looked up at Loki, not knowing who he was, yet knowing also. _Yes. Once upon a time. A Baby. A Son, swaddled in silk. A cold temple slab. Chaos. Burning. Regret. Time. And now: an avenging Angel, with shockingly green eyes; with pale skin; with Inge's lips… Inge? Who was she? A beautiful woman. Yes. His little bird. She ended badly. But now was an Angel with her same lips. Would he be staying, or was he here to take him home? _

Two guards appeared on either side of Laufey and gathered him up like a child. The former King of Frost Giants was escorted out of his Ballroom whimpering.

In the weeks that followed, Loki performed his public duties impeccably. He appeared well on his way to completely restructuring Jotun society. He formed a Senate and a Science Academy. He weeded out the criminals and crooked diplomats. He renovated the dilapidated castles and homes of Jotunheim with deft sorcery. Privately, of course, he was a ruin.

That first night in Jotunheim, Erindis invaded his dreams. The Jotun night echoed with the low, almost animal wail of the new King.

It was at this precise moment, somewhere in Asgard, that another King awoke. In the first raw moments of semi-consciousness, before he remembered that his name was Odin and that there was such a place as Asgard and such a thing as misery; he imagined he heard a sound, _a wail,_ echoing from the receding corners of his sleep; the final note of a dream. And then he remembered all.

**I am posting the next 2 chapters at the same time as this. Hope you like them. **


	22. Chapter 22

**Here's 22. The next chapter will be up at the same time as this. Hope you are enjoying.**

**I do not own any Marvel Characters. **

Chapter 22: The Poet's Clue

Erindis waited.

Hours passed as she paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. Loki's letter lay wet and folded on the ground net to the pouch with the Frost Relic. Visions displayed themselves relentlessly in her mind: Loki bleeding against black ice; Loki dead.

Then, just as the Palace was beginning to stir with the dawn, there was a knock at the door. Erindis scrambled to open it.

"What a relief to find you home and safe, My Dear," said her visitor.

Erindis's heart cracked. Disappointment mingled with mild shock. It was not her beloved who stood before her, but the AllFather.

"Y-you're awake," said Erindis, dizzily stating the obvious. "W-when did you?"

"A few hours ago. "May I come in?"

"Of course."

Odin looked even more pallid now than he had in his sleep. His robes were of golden thread but his face was like a spectre; void of health. He stared at Erindis with deep, apologetic eyes. He must have sensed her disappointment at his not being Loki. He gestured that they sit on the un-holographic couch by the fireplace. Erindis obeyed, following him and sitting wordlessly.

"My Child," began the AllFather, "how trying this has all been for you…"

She said nothing. She did not care about her 'trials'. She only wanted Loki back; safe and next to her. Everything else was beside the point.

"I should never have asked you to act as my spy, Erindis," said Odin, sighing in exasperation at himself before continuing, "I had no right. No right at all. You are too young for such a burden."

Erindis was beginning to have the creeping impression that she was being patronized. It made her feel even sicker.

"I do not know the full extent of your relationship with Loki," said Odin tactfully. He paused, as if waiting for Erindis to fill him in. When she did not oblige, he began another route of conversation. "I do not know if you are aware, but I am able to hear much of what goes on around me while I am in the Odinsleep. I know that you saved my life when Laufey came to kill me."

Erindis had forgotten all about that.

"I am eternally indebted to you, not only for that." said Odin. "My wife, Frigga, sat by my side most days. She told me what was happening in the Palace. She told me that Loki was in love with you and that she hoped he might be changed by that love. But the next day she came in sobbing. She told me Thor was gone and that Loki had seized the throne. She said you had gone, most likely fled back to Academy." Odin's brow darkened, "And I had to listen to this, knowing what _really _happened; unable to tell her that you had been taken to Jotunheim, and were perhaps, already dead."

At once Erindis was flooded with empathy for Odin. What a torturous state to be in! The AllFather must have read her face.

"Do not worry about me, Child, I daresay you have suffered more." A shadow passed over his features. Odin seemed almost afraid to ask the question he was about to ask her. "What exactly did King Laufey do to you?"

_What had he done to her? _Better things than he could have done, she supposed.

"He kept me prisoner, at first in a cell, then in a sumptuous suite. He made me think he wanted me to join his cause." She explained the game of bluffing they had played. She told Odin how she had plotted her escape with the help of Tigor, but that he had gone back on his promise to her in the final hour. "But it turned out Laufey was only using me as bait. He wanted Loki come and think that I had betrayed him." She explained how Loki had been told to come in three days to exchange the stolen Frost Relic for her life.

Odin's face turned even whiter when he heard this. "The Frost Relic?"

Erindis looked at him and was suddenly overcome with a terrible rage. _Loki was gone _and all Odin cared about was the _Frost Relic_? "Don't worry Sir," he said in a tone rich with accusation, "the Frost Relic is right here." She grabbed the pouch resting in front of the fireplace. Odin took it from her and opened it. Relief and blue light bathed his face as he beheld the thing tucked inside. He closed the pouch again and looked at Erindis. Sensing her disapproval he tried to explain.

"You do not know what this object could do if placed in the wrong hands…"

"It must be a relief, then, to have it back in the _right hands_," said Erindis coldly. She could never have imagined speaking this way _to the AllFather, _but she couldn't have cared less about that now.

Odin was not angered by her tone. "The Kingdom would be in grave peril if Laufey held the power of the Frost Relic," he said gently.

"I know," she snapped, "that's why Loki sent it back! He would never let any harm come to Asgard. That's why he's over there now, risking his life for all of us!" Erindis trembled with fury. Her fingers dug deep into the arm of the couch.

Odin gazed evenly at her, "Of course," he said.

Erindis breathed in and out. The ordeal of the past few days seemed to be catching up with her all at once. She looked up at the ceiling to keep the welling in her eyes from becoming definitive tears. She saw the map of the universe and the dark hued monsters painted in panels. She remembered when she had seen them for the first time; how they had made her feel even more apprehensive. It was the first night she met Loki. How he had terrified her...

Erindis felt the warmth of Odin's palm on her hand. She was suddenly very sorry to have yelled at the AllFather. "I'm sorry Sir, it's just that-"

Odin raised his hand gently to silence her, "You have never to apologize to me, My Dear. It is _I _who shall spend a lifetime in atonement for the grief I have caused you."

Erindis's heart quickened with dread. She could tell he was thinking of something else… something she did not know yet… "AllFather," she asked warily, "why isn't Loki home yet?"

Odin had been bracing himself for her question. "Erindis, I cannot tell you exactly what happened in Jotunheim, because I do not know. I do not think that any of us will ever know, for certain. But it seems apparent, now, that the portal connecting Asgard and Jotunheim has been permanently sealed."

"What?" The wind was knocked out of Erindis's chest. The room began to spin.

"After waking up from the Odinsleep," began Odin, "I went directly to the Bifrost. Thinking that you Loki were both still over there, I was going to travel to Jotunheim. But it didn't work; the Bifrost simply _refused _to take me. Heimdall and I spent hours trying but all of our efforts to break the seal proved futile." Odin looked grave, "Heimdall believes that a rare form of _Blood Magic_ was usedand that it was Loki himself who cast such a spell."

Somewhere, in the library of Erindis's mind, a word raised itself; a word glanced once in the yellowing pages of an old book which few possessed of healthy scepticism would ever have bothered to read; the word, which had lain forgotten for so long, now burned her brains with lethal insistence: _Interdico._ She closed her eyes, feeling ill. She knew what Odin would say next. His voice felt distant and toneless.

"As it stands, no one not of Jotun blood will ever be able to travel to Jotunheim, and no one not of Asgardian blood will ever be able to come here. As you know, _Loki is of Jotun blood._"

Erindis had a vague idea of theInterdico Spell being one which most practitioners of Sorcerery dismissed as myth. It fell into an obscure branch of sorcery known as 'Blood Magic'. It was supposed to be impossible; a violation of physical laws. It could not be true… _And yet_, a voice inside her said, _if such magic were possible, surely Loki would be the one able to do it…_

"Frigga tells me that you love Loki," said Odin, "I cannot begin to tell you how sorry-"

Erindis got up and ran toward the fireplace. Doubling over, she retched violently and vomited against the green paneled wall.

"My Dear," said Odin, coming to her side. Erindis let out a sputtering sob. She shook her head.

"No, no, no, there _must _be some way to reverse the spell… There _must!_"

"I truly sorry Erindis." Odin looked deeply into her eyes and seemed to swallow back a tidal wave of his own grief. "Loki is my child," he whispered, "I do not know how I shall do without him. But we must take heart; it could be worse, _he could be dead instead_."

Odin was right. At least Loki was alive. "There must be some way to cross over…"

"Listen to me, Child," said Odin, holding her by the shoulders and pinning her still with his powerful stare. "I would give anything to make it otherwise, but _he is gone to us_."

"No!"

"_Loki_ was the one who cast the spell. It was his choice. He must have felt that it was necessary for the good of the realm."

"He had no right to make a choice like that!" screamed Erindis.

Odin nodded his head. "Perhaps you are right. But perhaps he felt he had no choice at all…" Then he looked past Erindis and seemed to lose himself in some private well of pain. His voice became dreamy. "He always hated when I would lecture him on doing what was most beneficial for the most numbers..." he whispered. "He despised my prosthelytizing. I never thought he took any of it seriously… And now look…" It was Odin's turn to crumple. He fell back onto the couch and stared at the wall. The AllFather looked incredulous and sad.

Erindis wiped her eyes and sat down next to Odin. Had she a crueller heart, she would have told him that Loki had _always_ taken him seriously. She would have told him how blindingly Loki longed to make him proud; to convince him that he was worthy of being his son. But mercifully, Erindis did not have such a heart, so she kept her mouth shut.

Odin looked up at her after a while. His mournful eyes glittered. "I have one question to ask you, My Dear, if it is not too difficult for you."

"Anything."

"Did he know, from the very beginning that you were a spy?"

Erindis understood well how loaded the question this was. She did not want to tell Odin the truth: that Loki _had_ known she was Odin's spy from the beginning; that he had rightly suspected his own Father did not trust him. Odin knew the answer already by her hesitation. She nodded.

He closed his eyes. "How tangled the web of deceit and distrust is…" he sighed.

Odin looked around his son's chambers. He had hardly ever been inside them. How fascinating they appeared to him now; how furnished with clues about their resident. He should have knocked on these doors more often. He should have sat upon this coach. He should have been familiar with the balmy scent of potions; the lime and the cedar, the mint and steel cut grass; the cinnamon and sandalwood that hung in the air now. But he was not. And now it was too late to grab his son by the shoulders, look him straight in his doubting emerald eyes and tell him how fiercely he had always loved him.

Weeks passed in Asgard. Autumn arrived, sultry and red, painting all the hills and courtyards. In the mornings, Erindis watched from her bedroom window as Warriors practiced with their swords beneath the trees. She would stick her head out and let the chill air dance across her cheeks, as though to confirm her continued presence in this inhumanely beautiful world.

Autumn saw the return of Thor. Odin had gone to Midguard to fetch his him himself. The Golden haired Warrior was welcomed back by a cheering crowd. Hardly anyone appeared to notice how different he was. He seemed to have entirely lost his smugness, which, apart from his size, had been his defining feature. He no longer strutted. He barely seemed to smile at all. Whatever happened to Thor in Midguard had had a profound effect on him. But Erindis did not think it was her place to ask. Nor did she want to. She merely flashed her best approximation of a smile and disappeared politely into the sea of well wishers.

Odin had asked Erindis to stay in the Palace as a court scientist and she had accepted. She was free to carry out her personal research- in any branch of sorcery she wished- fully supported by the Aesir. She was given the finest lab in Asgard- meaning the one in Loki's chambers. Loki's rooms, books, instruments, vials of potions, store cupboards of rare ingredients, magic contraptions; everything that had once been his was now at her disposal. She wanted to die.

"Loki would want you to carry on with your work," Odin told her, "I can think of no one he would have deemed more talented or more deserving of his possessions than you".

Erindis knew that there was something else, something unspoken, in this agreement. Not only did Odin feel guilty about the ordeal she had gone through and wish to compensate her for it somehow; not only did he regard her as something like Loki's widow; but he must have known, deep down, that she was also that she would be the only sorceress in existence talented and mad enough to dare attempt to break the Interdican Seal. She did not think that Odin's desire was a conscious one; dabbling in dark magic was extremely dangerous business. But it could not have been escaped him, that is to say, _he could not doubted for a minute_ what Erindis would choose as her topic of research…

Blood Magic. Even if it took years, Erindis would find a way master it. She would penetrate the Interdican Seal and see Loki again, or she would die trying.

And so, entombed in Loki's great, green paneled chambers, surrounded by artefacts him, Erindis began her new life. She spent nearly every waking hour reading. She scoured every book in his collection for clues on Blood Magic. She. Read. Everything. Hunched at the table for hours on end, Erindis did not stop until the words in front of her dissolved into meaningless lines and she felt herself becoming light headed. It was then that she would take a break and escape outdoors.

Erindis would walk alone in late afternoon, or in the sunset mirk of the evening. She sat on the damp earth along the banks of the creek and wept. She gazed at the water, which, like an opal mirror, reflected the branches and sky above it in heartrending detail. She thought she saw Loki's cloaked figure once, standing at the top of the hill; where he had stood once before, surveying her. But when she blinked and the sweet illusion evaporated. She visited the cluster of magnolia trees and watched them give up their golden leaves, one by one. Erindis felt as though she were haunting all the places where once she had lived. And when she had enough of haunting, she returned to reading. Day by day, this became her routine; the simple, lonely rhythm of her existence.

In Loki's entire library, Erindis found not one manual on Blood Magic. There was not a single book from which he could possibly have learned how to perform the Interdico spell- let alone one that contained a method of undoing it.

All Erindis had found, so far, in her weeks of reading, were a few scant clues littered here and there, noticeable only to one obsessively looking for them:

1_._

_The 'Sanguine Decade' is a name given by historians of Fringe Magic to a period, beginning in 1789, that witnessed an emergence of interest the 'lost art' of so called 'Blood Magic' among Dark Sorcerers. None was ever recorded to have achieved any success in this dubious quest, though, interestingly, several were driven mad in their attempts. One such man, a powerful sorcerer known modestly to his followers as 'Nerod the Magnificent', was reported to have repeated the same non-sensical incantation over and over again until his vocal chords collapsed. He spent the remainder of his life mouthing the gibberish words- even in his sleep- all the while apparently unaware of anything else around him. –_page 355 of '**Cultish Desires: Underground Sorcery From 1500 to 1900'**

2_._

_There was a time in our history when the possibility of changing one's form from human to toad seemed about as likely as the existence of unicorns or 'Blood Magic'! _–page 23 of '**The Art of Shapeshifting at the Dawn of the 21****st**** Century' **(Encouraging).

3.

… _In his final decades, Voric 'the Mad' even claimed to have succeeded in spells of Blood Magic. _–page 8 of '**Madness in Their Method: A Treatise on Lunacy Among Sorcerers' **(Not so encouraging).

And so on.

One evening, after a particularly fruitless day, Erindis came to sit at the banks of the creek. She stared at the water until the moon appeared shining on its surface, like the round window of some lonely, well-lit house. She pulled her cloak tighter around herself and picked up one of the books she had brought along with her. She had nearly exhausted the library. The only books left were not Sorcery texts at all, but rather a mixture of Midguardian fiction, Art and Poetry books. She now held a slim volume entitled, '**Unwritten: The Secret Lives of Asgard's Great Poets from Agmundr to Zesso**'.Something had clicked in Erindis's stomach as she'd grabbed it. She couldn't explain why, but she sensed that there was something important lying within those thin pages. Perhaps madness was catching up with her at last.Trying not to be _too _hopeful, Erindis began to read.

At first, it was a disappointment. The book was filled with sensationalized anecdotes about famous bards; who they made love to, who they had duelled with etc. She read with mounting hopelessness until she came to the middle of page 103:

_Chapter 5: Bergvior, Epic Bard or Dark Sorcerer?_

_Bergvior is perhaps the most beloved and celebrated Asgardian poet of the new era. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), little is known about his mysterious connections to Dark Magic. Was Bergvior a wild eyed romantic whose imagination got the better of him, or was there something more sinister at play? _

_To answer this question, we must begin in Vanaheim._

_Upon returning from the Jotun-Asgardian war, Bergvior began on an ill advised affair with the wife of one of Asgard's top Generals. When the affair was discovered, Bergvior was given a choice between duelling the famed General or going into voluntary exile in Vanaheim. Valuing his liver above his honour, Bergvior chose exile. And thus the modern era of poetry was born. _

_During his exile in Vanaheim, Bergvior famously fell in love with Beatrice, the illiterate sixteen year old daughter of his cook. It was said to have been the greatest passion of his life. His poems of the period are marked by a sense of plaintive longing and helplessness in the face of love. Bergvior seems to anticipate the end of the love affair even as he is in the thrall of it. In his so called 'Odes to Beatrice', Bergvior dispensed with the epic quality of his earlier works in favour of shorter poems with a more intimate subject matter. A typical poem is 'Evening in Vanaheim': _

_**Blood Magic alone could make me forget,**_

_**The seashore garden where we met, **_

_**I wrung my soul, you clutched your white flowers,**_

_**One hundred years with you, would be brief as twilight hours.**_

_Bergvior Scholars will note that this is neither the first nor last time the poet evoked 'Blood Magic' in his works. His later poems, in particular, are peppered with allusions to dark sorcery. In a line from 'The Winter Song', he speaks of the pain of losing Beatrice by making explicit reference to a mysterious ancient spell, the sixteenth couplet reads: _

'…_**Silently before your grave I did kneel, **_

_**And Death becomes our Interdican Seal.**__'_

_The 'Interdican Seal' mentioned in this poem is an allusion to a mythical spell associated with Blood Magic. Such references have led some Bergvior scholars to suspect that he may have secretly dabbled in Dark Sorcery- even 'Blood Magic'- himself. Shortly after Beatrice's death, Bergvior fled Vanaheim. There were rumours of a theft in the Palace, which were never confirmed. _

_By this time, Bergvior's ban from Asgard had been lifted and he was invited back to live as Poet Laureate in the Palace of Asgard. Accounts of Bergvior's final years reveal him to have been eccentric and secretive. He is said to have spent much time alone in his rooms, although he notably became close with the royal family. _

_In his Autobiography, 'Moon Song', Bergviors protégé, Novik Arminson wrote this startling account:_

_**Bergvior became strange in his old age. None of us knew what to make of him anymore. He would lock himself in his rooms and not come out for days. There were whispers that he was experimenting with sorcery. I found this surprising, as I had never known him to show any talent or predilection for sorcery in the past. **_

_**Then, one night, at banquet, I succeeded in loosening the old man's tongue with some liquor. What he confessed shocked me… **_

_**Bergvior said that he has was in possession of a book; an ancient book, which he had stolen from an underground vault in the Palace of Vanaheim. He said that this book was the oldest manual on Sorcery in existence and that it contained spells which had not seen the light of day for centuries. He said that they were spells of Blood Magic, the most dangerous the universe had ever seen. Most of them had something to do with blood and race. He said he could never perform the spells himself because he was not a real sorcerer, but that he had plans to give it to someone he knew: a Noble who was very young but showed astounding promise. Needless to say I was confused. The whole thing made me very uncomfortable. **_

_**To this day, I do not know whether Bergvior was actually telling the truth, or if he was playing a trick on me for getting him drunk. I never got a chance to ask him outright, as he died only a few weeks later. There was no mention of any book of sorcery in his will. And I have certainly never met anyone who could perform this so called 'Blood Magic'. **_

_No evidence of such a book has ever been found. Many scholars have dismissed Norvik's account just as just another attempt to further the mystique of Bergvior's legacy. Perhaps we will never know the truth behind Bergvior's fascination with 'Blood Magic'. But one thing is for sure, it does make for a good story! _

Erindis exhaled as she finished reading. A fog had settled all around her. Her fingers were benumbed with cold, yet she felt warmer and more alive than she had in weeks. Her heart threatening to leap out of her chest into the Autumn air. _Of course!_ She had read Bergvior's poems at the academy, how could she not have made the connection? Loki must have been that someone Bergvior had known, '_the Noble who was very young but showed astounding promise_'. That meant that Loki had received the book upon Bergvior's death and that it must still be hidden somewhere in his chambers. Erindis had to find it, for it had to contain some way of penetrating the Interdican Seal…

Erindis nearly slipped and broke her arm trudging up the slippery dead leaves on the hill. The Palace rose above the fog. All the lights were out except for one at the top of the South Tower. A figure paced back and forth in the window. With a slight shock, she recognized it to be Thor. What was the God of Thunder doing pacing back and forth in his chambers at two in the morning? Could he not sleep? Were his thoughts troubled? Were the responsibilities of being Odin's heir finally sinking in? Perhaps he too was thinking about Loki. Erindis wondered if Thor forgave his brother for engineering his exile; and whether he missed him. There was something sad and transfixing about Thor moving so slowly and unsurely back and forth in front of his window; but wind and purpose hurried Erindis up the path.

A terrifying thought struck her as she was climbing the spiral stairway to Loki's chambers: _what if, after learning its secrets, Loki had destroyed the book?_ No, she would not linger on the possibility. Fate had been unaccommodating enough for a lifetime; this time she would win. She was going to find that damn book, and she was going to find it tonight!

And find it, Erindis did. It was hidden beneath the stone floor under Loki's holographic couch. Erindis had painstakingly raised the stones one by one using magic. This was only after she had checked behind every painting and every wall panel and looked in the secret chamber under the floor of Loki's bedroom. She could hardly believe it when she saw a little green box, gleaming, snakelike between the stones. Faint letters were embossed on top:

_Property of Loki Odinson, _

_By Order of the poet Bergvior_

Erindis's hands trembled as she lifted the lid. Her heart soared as she beheld the book. Its brown leather face was cracked and peeling. The corners of it were soiled. Indeed, the book seemed to bear a scar for every year of its existence. Erindis was almost afraid to touch it for fear that it would disintegrate in her hands.

The pages inside were hand written, as in all ancient books. But this was not the delicate, artisan's hand one admired in museums; this was rough, purposeful writing. On the first page, there was an inscription; an extraordinary warning apparently written by one of the former owners of the book:

_**Do not Read this book.**_

_**Burn it.**_

_**Drown it.**_

_**Destroy it.**_

_**Do not leave it where some wretched soul might find it.**_

_**And, most important of all, banish this book from your memory. Forget it. Disown it. Keep on living.**_

Although Erindis felt a chill up her spine as she read the words, she did not, for a second, heed the warning. Instead she turned the page hungrily to the contents and looked for the phrase, 'Interdican Seal'. Uncannily enough, it was in the title of Chapter 17. She turned to the appointed page and there found, to her increasing annoyance, that the vandal had done his work again, this time in even bolder letters:

_**Dear Reader. You have not listened. Listen now.**_

_**Leave these spells alone. Ignore them.**_

_**Do not learn these incantations. Do not repeat their fatal vowels and consonants. **_

_**Do not brew these potions, if you wish to live. **_

'The fuck I won't', thought Erindis with impatience.

_Chapter 18: Blood Magic and the Interdican Seal_

_Only one in billions of sorcerers will be powerful enough to achieve this spell. Blood Magic literally bends physics to correspond to a People's genetic make up. It requires a level of concentration which is almost unheard of. _

_The Incantation of the Interdican seal must be uttered with full intention. The words must be repeated over and again and not stopped until the intent has been achieved. _

_The incantation is as follows: _

_KRV STANI. KRV IDI. KRV PADNI. NIKO NE UGI._

_Once in place, the Interdican seal will allow only those of native blood to enter a given realm. The dangers implicit in this spell are obvious. _

_A double Interdican Seal is one that separates two realms from one other. In this instance neither of the two races can travel to the other's Kingdom. _

'Yes,' wondered Erindis, 'But how does one break it?'

_If anyone of foreign blood were ever to penetrate an Interdican Seal, the Seal would be destroyed. If the impenetrable were to be penetrated, the existence of the Seal would become a paradox. _

_Most sorcerers believe that breaking the Interdican Seal is impossible. They are wrong. There exists a potion, called the Devo Potion, which, when drunk, imbues a Sorcerer with the ability to teleport through the Interdican Seal even if they lack the blood native to that realm. Once the drinker has teleported, the Seal is effectively broken and the spell is broken. However this ability comes at a terrible price__**. **_

_If one of incorrect blood penetrates the Seal,the spell unleashes lethal toxins within the Devo potion that will render the intruder dead within 12 hours. Upon drinking the potion and breaking the seal, the foreign blooded Sorcerer will have __**only 12 hours to live. **_

_The Devo Potion allows the drinker to spend 12 hours in the realm of their desire, but they must pay for those 12 hours with their life. Once the Seal is broken, the poisonous effects of the potion are IRREVACABLE. The drinker may experience a deterioration of their health immediately after they have penetrated the seal. This is because they will begin dying immediately. The Devo Potion operates on a conscious magical 'trade'. _

_The Sorcerer is granted 12 hours by the Seal in understanding that by penetrating the seal, they are forfeiting their life. _

_Instructions for Brewing the Devo Potion are as follows:_

_1. Into the base of a_ _**Sulphur-climide-orellian potion**__, the Sorcerer must mix in one drop of their own blood and an object belonging to someone they love. (If the Sorcerer loves no one, they are rather at an impasse)._

_2. Brew._

_3. Drink._

_4.__ Teleport to the Desired Realm. _

The clock struck five am. Erindis could hardly believe it; what relatively uncomplicated magic: a slightly modified Sulphur-Climide-Orellian potion. That was all. She could have laughed. She made her decision immediately. It wasn't really a decision at all.

Erindis felt a hollowness in her limbs as the realization settled. Yet there was also a strange tranquility in knowing. _This, _then, would be how it happened.This would be the conclusion to the little story of her life. Death itself Erindis did not fear half as much as this persistence of life without Loki. For weeks now, her soul had been a mirror contemplating his image; how faithfully it retained that beloved face! Yet how could a mirror ever be happy? Without him she was already gone. A ghost. An echo. A spectre. Sadness surrounded her, like wind encricling a tree. She would gladly trade a thousand years of solitude in return for twelve hours in his arms. She remembered the quote from Bergvior, so fresh in her mind,

'…_I wrung my soul, you clutched your white flowers, _

_One hundred years with you, would be brief as twilight hours.' _

For twelve hours with Loki, Erindis would give her heart; her blood, her breath, her bones, her life. And it would be a bargain, _for those twelve hours. _

Yet there was a sadness in it, to be sure. The sun, for one thing, had been glorious. And the sea in her home province, which was the colour of jade. Life had had moments of such acute sweetness that it was almost unbearable to remember them all. Yet the future had not spoiled Erindis with its promises. Her mother had died young; she had known all along not to trust it.

It was dawn when Erindis finished brewing the potion. In it she had put a drop of her blood and a green silk thread she had cut from one of Loki's robes. She decided to drink it outside, and afford herself one final glimpse of morning.

Stepping outside, Erindis felt as though she had arisen from a grave. The path and the buildings were illuminated by the golden rays of light. Leaves helicoptered restlessly from their trees. She could hear the cooing of wood doves from the edge of the creek. What a fresh shock it was, this beauty; even though she had seen it a hundred times before. "Goodbye then," she whispered to the daylight.

Erindis did not know where exactly in Jotunheim she would be teleporting, so she decided to take the precaution of shapeshifting into a male Frost Giant. She closed her eyes and concentrated n the image: the height, the strength, the blueness.

_POP!_

Erindis regarded her reflection in the creek. Were it not for the wetness in her eyes, she would have very much resembled Laufey. Then she tipped her head back and drank the potion. She leaned forward and closed her eyes again. Her will did not falter; nor did her foot did hesitate, as the Asgardian ground dissapeared beneath her.

_WHOOSH!_

At once, Erindis felt herself plumetting. She looked down. The world beneath her was a tapestry of white, black and blue. She spotted the towers of Jotunheim, clustered like mounds of dirt against the snow; they did not look so terribly tall from above. Mountains, capped with silver, rose cathedral-like from the frozen shores in the distance. Beyond them were canyons; massive tresses of ice, falling like curtains between bottomless cracks. Further beyond, was a plain, dead and white, through which a river of blue ice carved its way, determinedly.

Erindis was falling. But it did not feel like falling. Rather, the ground seemed to be flying upwards to meet her. It was the first time she had ever teleported between realms and she had not foreseen this. She hoped, as the air beat her ears; that she had not come all this way and drunk of the deadly potion just to have her bones whitened and scattered by the elements like those of some sabor-toothed animal.

_THUD._

Her body slammed against the frozen ground. The pain in the coxsix confirmed she was still alive. A few drops of blood from her forehead stained the snow like red wine. Otherwise, she appeared to be in tact.

But Erindis's releif was shortlived. Dark as ash on the ground in front of her, spread two horse-shaped shadows. Looking up, Erindis's fears were confirmed. Attatched to the shadows were hooves, and attatched to the hooves were two, enormours horses, mounted by two equally enormous Frost Giants. _Thank God I shapeshifted, _thought Erindis as she gazed up at the armoured men. In a flash, one of them dismounted from his horse and pressed the tip of his sword against her throat.

"He's Jotun," said the man still on his horse.

"Yes, but in case you didn't notice, he just fell out of the sky," said the standing Frost Giant, narrowing his eyes at the stranger.

"I-I can explain," sputtered Erindis. The voice that came out of her was as deep as a real Frost Giant's. "I came here from Asgard on the Bifrost. I have spent the past few years living over there as a spy." She knew not where this ready lie had come from. But it sounded right to her. Vaguely plausible. Good enough, perhaps, to grant her a few more hours of life.

The Frost Giants exchanged glances. The mounted one shrugged. "I suppose, Laufey must have had a few spies working for him in Asgard," he said.

The standing Frost Giant frowned and prodded her rib lightly with the tip of his boot. Erindis could tell by his his heavy sigh: _this was not the trouble he needed today… _He leaned down and groped her, looking for concealed weapons. When he was satisfied, he stood up again and reached for something dangling from his horse's flank. It was a set of chains. He secured them on Erindis's wrists and her ankles. Then he reached again to the side of his horse and produced a relatively tiny (for a Frost Giant) sleigh. He secured the sleigh to the back of the horse so that it could be pulled like a carriage.

"Get up and get in the sled," he ordered Erindis gruffly, "And if you try anything, you're wolf meat. Understand?" His breath came out in streams against the cold, clear air.

Erindis nodded and obeyed. Her chains rattled behind her as she walked over and sank into the sleigh. She knew she must have looked ridiculous stuffed into the wooden box in her mega-limbed Frost Giant form.

"We are taking you to the King," said the Frost Giant. "If your story is true, than you have nothing to fear."

In the past few weeks, Erindis had forgotten how to be afraid. How quickly the returned!

_O please no. Not Laufey. _She had not ingested poison and penetrated the Interdican Seal only to find herself staring once again into that horrible blue face!

Erindis realized at once how naïve she had been. She had foolishly assumed that if only she were back in Jotunheim, she would be able to find Loki. But the realm was large, and Loki could be anywhere… He could be hiding in the mountains from Laufey's men. He could be wasting away in a dungeon underground. He could even be- no, she dared not think it- _dead. _And it would certainly not do to askthese armoured Frost Giants if, by any chance, they knew where, in this vast, sunless Kingdom she might find her green-eyed lover? Why had she not stopped for a momentand THOUGHT after reading that _blasted book_? Why had she not considered that perhaps the odds of her finding him were slim to none? Why had she not considered that- WAIT A MOMENT- Loki had freely CHOSEN never to see her again? This last consideration stung the most.

"Um, do you think that it is quite necessary for me to see the King? I'd rather just go home and-"

"You will see the King!" bellowed the Frost Giant, sliding into his saddle, "If he is the _last thing you see!_" With that, the horse's hooves thrashed up a shower of snow in Erindis's face as they galloped across the wide Jotun expanse towards the Castle.

**I am putting the next chapter up at the same time as this. Hope you like it. Thank you for reading and hope you enjoy.**


	23. Chapter 23

**This is going to be the second last chapter. Thank you so much for reading my story. It has been such a joy to write, knowing that there were actual people out there who might enjoy it. Much love!**

**I do not own the Marvel Characters.**

Chapter 23: The Jotun Spy

Every night of the past few weeks, Loki had dreamt of Erindis. And every morning morning he had awoken to the fresh torture of rememberance. She was gone. The fact struck his body like a sweetly swung axe.

In the castle, he thought he saw her everywhere; appearing and disappearing into dank enclaves; a million versions of her a day, glimmering on the borders of his peripheral vision. It never ceased to amaze him how easily his mind transformed a boulder into Erindis. Or a silk curtain. Or a buttress of ice. Sometimes, in hours of particular madness, Loki would stand before a mirror and shape shift into his beloved. He wept silently and gazed at her image. Her image, _but not her_. Cruel Mirror! Cruel Sorcery! Cruel Conscience for having awoken when it did! Cruel fate for keeping him alive! Loki knew well that he was dancing on the edges of sanity, but then, hadn't he always? He knew that is was not exactly a desirable trait in a monarch; yet what could be done about it? She was gone and would remain gone. And surely his mind would soon follow.

Ironically, Jotunheim, was already blossoming under his rule. The ruined settlement he found here weeks ago was fast becoming a vibrant, healthy city. Loki's subjects were cooperative and hardworking. They were so relieved; so grateful to him for having ridded them of Laufey. Loki was taken aback by their loyalty and even more taken aback by their apparent _affection _for him. Here he was, looking one hundred percent Asgardian, yet they revered him. Was it possible that Jotuns were far more peaceful and open minded than anyone gave them credit for? Had they been much more resistant to Laufey's brainwashing than previously thought? The revelation was painful for Loki. It suggested that perhaps he had made the wrong decision, when he had cast the Interdican Spell.

Loki realized now, how small most Kings really were; how much they relied on the adoration of their people to inflate them. They ate their subjects love as though it were sustenance. But Loki did not wish to be loved by strangers; by nameless hoards.

He used his sorcery to help Jotunheim repair itself; uncomplicated spells, for building homes and growing food. He required nothing in return. Never had he used his magic so simply; or so remotely from his own dark desires. Now, Loki merely made himself useful, helping the Jotuns, because he could. He did not want to be thanked. He did not want to be honoured. Their gratitude meant nothing. It was no balm to his calloused soul. It gave him no satisfaction.

Loki did not expect to receive any contact from Asgard for as long as he lived; so it came as some surprise when, one night, as he was sitting in the throne room; a messenger burst in to inform him that a Jotun had been captured, who had been seen teleporting into the realm out of thin air. He said that the captured Jotun claimed to have been living, these past few years, as a spy in Asgard.

'Bring him to me," ordered Loki grimly.

A few minutes later, the Jotun spy was sent in, jangling in his chains. He looked young, and did what Jotuns rarely did, even in the meanest blizzards: he shivered. There was a shining gash in his forehead, no doubt procured as the Bifrost spat him out against the ground.

"Please!" shouted the chained Jotun, I don't need to see Laufey, I am perfectly-" Then the Jotun glimpsed Loki sitting on his throne. "My Lord," he said with a trembling voice, "I did not realize…" The stranger staggered backwards slightly, gazing at him as though he were a fallen Valkyrie. There was too much emotion in the stranger's red eyes. Loki despised Sycophants, but this was something different. This was unnerving.

"I have some questions," Loki informed the prisoner, "And you will answer them."

The chained Jotun stared at Loki in a trance. "I too have questions," he murmured.

One of the guards made a motion to strike the prisoner but Loki raised his hand and said, "No."

The chained Jotun had flinched in preparation for the blow. He now returned his burning eyes to Loki.

"Who are you?" demanded the King of Jotunheim.

"I am nobody, Your Highness," said the prisoner. "Merely a subject of yours, who has been a long way from home."

"Your name," demanded Loki impatiently.

The prisoner seemed to take a moment to remember, "Um- my name is Io, Sir. Forgive me, it has been so long since I answered to-"

"Have you come here by the Bifrost?"

"Yes Sir."

"You claim that you lived in Asgard as a Jotun spy."

"It is the truth Sir. I was a Spy in Asgard."

"Who asked you to become a Spy?"

"Your Father, Sir."

Loki narrowed his eyes. "So, you were King Laufey's spy… and now you have come back to Jotunheim."

"Yes Sir. I was discovered by Heimdall and imprisoned. But when the Realms were closed off by the, um- _whatever Spell it was you used- _I was given the choice to return to my native land, knowing I would never be able to return again."

"And you chose to go home."

"Yes, Sir."

"And Heimdall let you go home?"

"No, Sir. Odin did."

Loki's heart galloped. "_Odin_?"

"Yes, Sir," said the prisoner. Upon his lips now hovered the trace of the tiniest, beatific smile.

"The King of Asgard is in the Odinsleep," said Loki. His voice threatened to crack.

"No, Sir, Odin is awake. He awoke the night the Realms were seperated. He told me that, as I am of Jotun blood, I would be able to enter Jotunheim, but that no Asgardian could."

Loki closed his eyes, steeling himself against waves of homesickness.

"Odin is well, Sir," said the Prisoner, though Loki hadn't asked him. "But he misses you terribly."

"How can you know such a thing?" demanded Loki.

"I often know more than I am given credit for," said the Jotun quietly. His molten eyes bore into God of Mischief. "For example, I know who lives in your chambers now, and weeps for you every day."

Loki's breath caught. He regarded the chained Jotun. He had a sad air of knowing about him.

"Leave us," Loki commanded the guards. A mad rush of boots later, Loki was alone in the room with the prisoner. "Of whom did you speak, just know, the person who lives in my chambers?" asked Loki, remaining poker faced.

"You know who."

"Tell me anyway," commanded Loki dangerously.

The Jotun's red eyes bore into him. "I am speaking Sir, of the Lady you left behind in Asgard; the Lady whom, by your absence, you have condemned to death."

"How do you know anything about her?"

"It was my business to know everything; even the most insignificant details."

Loki's heart swelled. Erindis was _not_ an insignificant detail. She was the single, all encompassing, panoramic detail! She was the answer to the riddle of his life. And at the same time, she was the riddle itself. Their souls were riveted to one another and would always be. Though he was apart from her, she still lived inside him. Time would only serve to sink her deeper into its noiseless depths of his heart. That was love. That was the detail.

"Why did you cast the spell to separate the Kingdoms?" asked the Jotun prisoner.

"It had to be done."

"You decided that it was best for all?"

The question seemed ridiculous to Loki; the answer even more so. "Yes."

"Even though Laufey was vanquished, and posed no threat to Asgard?"

Loki narrowed his eyes at the bold Jotun. "Laufey was not the only threat to Asgard. Or Joutnheim."

"Good then," said the Jotun, "Let her die. Your Erindis is nothing special, Sir, from what I have observed of her… You are lucky to have escaped-"

With the speed of a panther he leapt up from his throne toward the Frost Giant, knocking him onto back. Stradling the man, who was twice his size, Loki seized his sword and pressed its sharp, reflective edge against his blue throat. The Frost Giant stared at him, unable, or unwilling to struggle. There was no fear in his eyes, though he felt the wind go out of him. Loki was panting now; with grief and rage.

"Go ahead," whispered the Jotun, "You have done worse, with less provocation."

Loki had never felt himself so angry. But he knew that his rage was not for Frost Giant in front of him, but rather, for himself. Standing over the chained Jotun, Loki he threw his sword onto the ground. He then stood there for a few moments, slowly panting.

The Jotun smiled serenely from the floor. Sitting up he told Loki, "I too fell in love in Asgard. My beloved left me."

"Whaere did she go?" asked Loki, surprised by his own question.

"She went to the place where nothing grows." The Jotun's brow furrowed, as if he were trying to stop himself from weeping. "I would go to the ends of the universe; I would swallow poison, to see my love again…"

A lonely tear traced Loki's cheek. "I know the feeling."

"Do you?"

Loki nodded but turned his back to the Jotun. He looked out of the window into the clear night. A few stars studded in the sky. The planet seemed to be falling away from them. Loki wished that he could have fly, lightly as a thought, toward those distant, lordly stars; and vanish somewhere on the way; dissolved into the black embrace of the universe. Death would be a trinket; a _nothing, _a mercy. _How had he ever dared to think he could go on living without her?_

_POP!_

Loki barely heard the sound. It was the voice which shattered his reverie.

"Turn around."

Loki did not dare believe his ears. They were lying. They were tormenting. Madness had descended.

Then, the voice spoke again. It was a voice so peculiarly itself. Unmistakable. No other sound could unravel him like that voice.

"Turn around."

This time Loki obeyed.

What he saw made him collapse to his knees. There, in the place on the floor where, moments before, the chained Jotun had sat, stood Erindis. She was shaking like a leaf and had tracts of glittering tears down her cheeks. The oversized chains had slipped from her wrists and ankles. She glowed in the dim light as she walked toward him, so beautiful that it was pain. She ran a soft hand through his hair, then dropped into his lap and pressed her wet face into his chest. They sat for a long time clutching each other. Neither quite believing. Almost frightened to move.

When at last Erindis looked up at him, her lips still trembled. Loki stilled them by kissing her deeply. He knew as soon as he did so that he would be unable to stop; that each frenzied kiss would linger and multiply. Her throat was sweet and cold against his lips. He sobbed as he tasted it's hollow. She gripped him tighter, She crying out when he bit between her neck and shoulders. She shuddered with pleasure as his needy, expert hands reached down, confirming that the violence of their need was mutual_._ As always, her body responded to him like a taut bow.

Loki carried Erindis down the hall to his bedchamber. There they made love with wordless urgency; like two souls awoken from death. When they were finished they still held each other as tightly as before. Neither wished to break the spell by speaking first; by acknowledging what was known to both.

"How much longer do we have?" asked Erindis.

Loki did not answer. He brought the inside of her wrist, which had been made tender by the iron chains, gently to his mouth and held it there.

"It can't be more than a few hours," sighed Erindis.

They continued to stare up at the ceiling. It was a cobalt dome with tiny pearls imbedded in it like stars.

"Loki," said Erindis after a while, "Do not hate me for coming."

"I could never hate you," said Loki, bringing his hands to her cheeks and pulling her to him. _Hate her? _What an absurd notion. Loki felt as though he would drown in the fullness of his love for her.

"Please don't, because I am so happy I came. You don't know how happy I am to be here," she whispered. "You don't know how happy you have made-"

Loki silenced her with another kiss. He could not bear to hear the rest. When their lips parted, her face was wet with his tears. He buried himself between her cheek and the pillow. "I'm so sorry," he said, his words muffled by the silk. "Please forgive me for leaving you alone. Forgive me for everything…"

"There is nothing to forgive," whispered Erindis, with her lips to his ear. "Come, now let us forget…"

And with that, Loki and Erindis once more lost themselves within each other. Time and space became imperceptible. They were one; the content of each other.

Their love would be stronger than death. Let it come. Let it fall on them like a snow and bury them. Let their stories end. Let history undergo its changes and repetitions without them. The important thing was that they had surrendered themselves to the miracle; that they had lived passionately to the final breath. Their names would be forgotten; as would everything that was finite and temporal. Yet love, like eternity, would remain.

The next morning, Erindis awoke in Loki's arms. She lifted her head and glanced at the clock on the wall. 9 AM.

It was impossible.

Was she dreaming? Was she dead? Was this the afterlife? If so, she had to admit, it was a startlingly accurate approximation of Loki sleeping next to her.

The air was cold against her skin as slipped out of the bed. Clad in a nightie as thin as a veil, Erindis hurried down a corridor of the Jotun Palace. She read another clock at the end of it.

9:01 AM.

_But how? _The Devo potion was supposed to have killed her hours ago… She continued walking down the corridor in a daze. She reached an arch which opened into a dining hall where about a dozen Frost Giants were seated. They were too absorbed in their food and conversation to notice her. To her surprise, Erindis spotted a familiar face among them. He had thoughtful eyes, a shy manner and was extremely short for a Frost Giant.

_Tigor!_

Erindis did not know what she should be feeling now, faced with the man who had broken his word to her and left her to die at the hands of Laufey. She had wanted to believe that he had some reason for doing so. Besides, what right had she to put him in that position anyway?

Now Tigor was doing something which Erindis had never seen him do before, he was _smiling. _He had his arm protectively around a radiant Frost Giantess. Erindis noticed that the woman's palms rested on her stomach, which protruded _ever so slightly_ against her silvery tunic. Erindis knew immediately that this was Tigor's wife, and that she was pregnant. Something about the scene told her that the Lady was Tigor's wife, and that she was pregnant.

No sooner had Erindis registered the fact then the realization struck her.

Pregnant.

Of course.

_I'm pregnant_!

That was how she had passed through the Interdican Seal without dying! _Erindis had Jotun blood within her!_ She was pregnant with Loki's child;

All at once she was overcome by a spiritual shock; a sudden otherworldly happiness. She laughed out loud. All of the Frost Giants assembled in the hall turned their heads. Erindis could not stop herself laughing. It bubbled up from her like a spring. Resistance to it was impossible, even in the front of a roomful of baffled Jotuns. She looked at all of them, and laughed even louder.

Tigor's expression wilted as he met Erindis's eye. To his shock, she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his squat torso. "Thank you!" she cried, and bounded for the corridor.

She saw Loki standing in the doorway of his bedroom looking stricken. His face lit up with confusion and relief as he saw her flying toward him. She leapt up at him and kissed him fiercely before he could utter a word.

"I'm pregnant!" she breathed as they parted.

Loki's knees buckled. "Of course!" he cried, "Asgardian _and _Jotun blood! That is how you broke the Seal-"

"And lived!" cried Erindis.

"This means-"

"The Interdican Seal is broken! If one of Asgardian blood manages to pass through the Seal, its existence becomes a paradox. I have both Asgardian and Jotun blood within me. I am a veritable paradox machine! Thanks to me, you can now go back and forth between Jortunheim and Asgard as often as you want. We're free!"

"And we're going to-"

"Have a baby!"

Loki could not speak. Joy had entirely consumed him and seemed to have taken his voice last. Who was he to deserve such happiness?

"Your silver tongue fails you at last," said Erindis as wrapped her arms around him.

"_Insolent girl_," whispered Loki catching her ear between his teeth and making her jump.

"What are you going to do, _Your Highness_?" giggled Erindis as Loki picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, slamming the door firmly behind them.


End file.
